Security guards are given police powers to arrest & search citizens.

Baltimore, MD - City and state legislators say they will push for greater regulation of longstanding but little-known laws that allow security guards to be granted law enforcement powers to arrest and search citizens.

"If special police make sense, if they're necessary, and if they really do provide enhanced public safety, then at a minimum there needs to be oversight, accountability, training, and qualifications that are set by the state," Sen. Brian Frosh, who chairs the Judicial Proceedings Committee, said Monday. "The idea that you can have private individuals running around with the authority to arrest people and throw them in jail is unnerving."

Added Sen. James Brochin, "There aren't enough checks and balances in the system to prevent a catastrophe from happening. Security guards don't know what probable cause is, they don't know the rules of the game. We need to fix this."

For decades, "special police" — security guards with police powers — have provided an extra layer of eyes and ears on the streets, supplementing the sworn police force at no cost to taxpayers and protecting some of Baltimore's most venerable institutions.

But city and state police, who have separate laws authorizing special police, do not provide or require training of the officers, do not monitor their actions and do not generally investigate complaints against them, The Baltimore Sun reported this weekend. Employers are responsible for oversight, and the state and city have no liability for their actions after granting them the authority to take police action.

Bernard C. "Jack" Young, president of the Baltimore City Council, said he plans to call a hearing to examine how the city manages special police licenses.

"We cannot have renegades," Young said at a lunch for the council Monday. "They have to have some kind of training in place. They have to be clearly identifiable, so we'll know who to call when there is an issue or a problem. … This is scary."

A group of Cherry Hill residents filed a lawsuit this summer, saying security officers working for a property management company have been "terrorizing" citizens and exceeding their authority, often in concert with city police. The company and its attorneys have declined to comment on the complaints.

Another local man filed a federal lawsuit, later dropped, against officers who he said detained and arrested him on false pretenses. City police also have circulated warnings about security officers impersonating police.

City police have cut the number of special police licenses they award, and are re-evaluating whether to continue granting them at all.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-special-police-folo-20121022,0,1373720.story