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Constitutional Limits On Private Policing And The State’S Allocation Of Force, M. Rhead Enion

Duke Law Journal

This Note argues that a variety of "private police" forces, such as university patrols and residential security guards, should. be held to the constitutional limitations found in the Bill of Rights. These private police act as arms of the state by supplying force in response to a public demand for order and security. The state, as sovereign, retains responsibility to allocate force, in the form of either public or private police, in response to public demand. This state responsibility-a facet of its police power-is evidenced throughout English and American history. When this force responds to a public demand for order …