We’re Security Guards for the City: Examining the Role of Business Improvement Districts within Order Maintenance

• In Event: Police Investigations, Reform, and Crime Control Initiatives

Abstract

Research has consistently examined the impact that privatized crime control initiatives have for improved public safety. The current study examines the role of private security programs within Business Improvement Districts (BIDs). I explore whether the policing practices of BIDs are largely shaped by the specific needs of the community, and how, in turn, this influences security personnel, also called Quality of Life Ambassadors’ (QOLs), understandings of their own roles of order maintenance. Data results from 50 hours of participant observations regarding a BID in a large North East city in the United States. Findings demonstrate how QOLs differentiate between low-level and serious offenses. Study findings have important implications for increasingly networked crime control models.

Author

• Amanda D'Souza, Rutgers University