Talk:Special police

Other connotations?
"Special police" also meaning riot police...? Also, "special police" as a euphemism (official or popular) for types of secret police or other internal repression? David Kernow 17:51, 11 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Seems Special Police can mean whatever you want it to mean, as long as you're not talking about regular coppers or bobbies. The North Carolina entry seems to be talking about company police. I got here by looking for "special constable" but there's only this and Special Constabulary, neither of which seem to be useful for including specials that were used as strikebreakers pre-WWII in Canada and throughout the British Empire. I suppose this isn't a problem for Americans, because strikebreaking police were private, i.e., company police, but there's no article for that either. Kind of ahistorical. That's the trouble with always being the junior partner in the Empire. Oh well..Bobanny 07:39, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

Security Guard - Observe and Report
The statement "security guards have no arrest powers as their job is mainly to observe and report" is not factual, as non-company police security personnel have citizen arrest powers and may be employed to intervene or perform protective services. i.e. paid to do something. I'll edit this when I can figure out how to say it. Pyrogen 21:43, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

This response is only 15 years late, LOL.

Okay, so, saying “citizen arrests” equate to having “arrest powers” is misleading at best. If that’s the case, all citizens have arrest powers.

A better way of saying this is that security guards *usually* do not hold “police powers.” And there are exceptions to this, especially in the US (the article covers it pretty thoroughly) and the UK (“police accreditation schemes,” I believe they’re referred to).

MWFwiki (talk) 08:08, 12 December 2021 (UTC)


 * Approaching nearly the "two decades later" mark at this point, but it should be noted that unlike Law Enforcement, there are no Federal-level regulations for how each state/county/city/etc must handle the role of Security personnel as far as powers and qualifications. As such, the role, scope, training, powers, qualifications, requirements, and authority vary widely even within a single state (such as Colorado, for example, where the state has little-no regulations while individual cities have several). In some states, Security personnel are by the letter of the law considered to have the same powers (including arrest powers) as sworn Sheriff's Deputies, and some states can charge Security personnel with various crimes relating to "failure to act" if they observe certain crimes or outcomes and take no direct action outside of reporting it (though these are rarely ever enforced).
 * The days where security was primarily an "Observe and Report" role have all but disappeared, with more and more private persons and property owners (and even city and county govts) chosing to hire Security (typically armed) with the role of preventing AND INTERVEINING TO STOP criminal offenses and other breaches of the peace. 2600:1700:3931:DE0:648F:87F:B4A3:DC27 (talk) 16:03, 3 November 2023 (UTC)

Merge from Special police force
''The result was merge from Special police force into Special police. -- akuyume TC 00:00, 14 June 2007 (UTC)''

Both articles are fairly small. I don't see the reason to have two separate pages describing the same thing with different words. akuyume TC 02:39, 12 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Merge Because they are both the same thing! Dep. Garcia ( Talk   + |  Help Desk  |  Complaints  ) 15:08, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

I am a Maryland Special Police Officer (SPO), and No, we can not just Fire at individuals that are endangering the public. I think what they were trying to convey is: Yes, we have the authority just like any other Police officer in the State of Maryland to make all arrest on the property we patrol. If for instance ABC Rentals owns 26 properties, and you are a SPO for them your jurisdiction covers all 26 properties that ABC owns. It also covers properies ABC has assumed responsibility to protect. Yes, we can operate blue lights, as long as the vehicle is use at the properties we protect, and not on state, county roads, or other private propety not in our jurisdiction. The use of blue lights to make traffic stops must require md. basic police training and be approved by the State Police prior. We are authorized to use deadly force outside our jurisdiction just like all other law enforcement officers, to protect the citizens in the State of Maryland. Rest easy, most but not all Maryland SPO's are either current Law Enforcement Officers, that moonlight from nieghboring states that have to have a Md. State Commission so that they may make arrest, and handgun permit to use deadly force while employed as such, or retired law enforcement officers, so most do know what they are doing. I myself a retired firefighter/ fire marshal. (kevinxfire) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kevinxfire (talk • contribs) 15:23, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

Maryland SPOs
I'll need to ask someone who's a Maryland SPO, but this sentience, "Special police can make a criminal arrest, run blue strobe lights on their vehicle and can fire at individuals that are endangering the public," sounds silly to me. "[F]ire at individuals that are endangering the public" sounds is the most silly part. If someone poses a lethal threat, then anyone (not just a police officer, regular or irregular) may use lethal force to protect themselves or others in all 50 states from the lethal threat.

If they're referring to a threat that is less than lethal, then why can't Maryland regular police perform what amounts to extra judicial summary executions? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pyrogen (talk • contribs) Pyrogen 06:59, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

Merge with Special constable
This article covers pretty much the same topic as Special constable, so I think that we should merge the two together. My preference would be under this title, since 'constabulary' seems to be mostly a British term whereas everyone knows what police are. Also, Special Constabulary should be renamed to reflect that it deals specifically with the British Special Constabulary. --Helenalex (talk) 11:29, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Bad idea my friend, this article is about "Special" police as in their duties, if it involves that of a Special Police Officers job this is a wrong contention they mean two different things so please do not push for a merge. Police,Mad,Jack (talk · contribs) ☺ 14:54, 15 May 2008 (UTC)


 * This page does a terrible job explaining the difference between special police and special constables. Having fully read both of them, I think a better option might be rewriting this page so that instead of grouping special police by country, it groups them by type. I gather there are lots of different kinds of special police, including auxilary type police (special constables); ordinary police with special duties (riot police, railway police etc); police employed by non-police organisations (military and company police for example); and probably others. I think this would make it much easier for people to get a sense of what special police do and how they can differ from special constables. However this is not an area I know huge amount about, so if this sounds like a terrible idea, please explain why. --Helenalex (talk) 05:23, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

Well you see Special Constabulary etc means a part time police officer, where special police denotes police force/agency/unit that is different to normal police duties, I agree it needs help this article but I really dont think they should be merged to be honest. Police,Mad,Jack (talk · contribs) ☺ 16:55, 18 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Nor do I, any more. But I would argue that special constabulary are a form of special police, along with riot police, military police etc. You seem to be arguing that the only real special police are normal police officers with special duties, whereas I would argue that the term is broader than this (in general usage anyway) and the article should reflect this. --Helenalex (talk) 01:01, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 13:52, 26 July 2019 (UTC)
 * Special Intervention Group - Mossos d'esquadra.jpg

Tactical unit
I think that this page should be merged with Police Tactical Unit.49.178.172.136 (talk) 16:42, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

Very strong disagree. While some nations refer to tactical LE units as “special police,” others (if not most) use the term to describe unique LE agencies or agencies/LEOs with limited or specialized jurisdiction when compared to more “common” LE agencies MWFwiki (talk) 04:20, 21 October 2022 (UTC)

“Special Jurisdiction Law Enforcement”
I’ve removed mention of this from the opening sentence; It originally read “Special police, also known as ‘Special Jurisdiction Law Enforcement…’” which is too specific.

First off, the article mentions the phrase exactly one time, and only when referring to the United States (New Jersey, specifically).

Secondly, as a (US) LEO myself and being relatively well-versed in LE history, I’ve only ever heard the term used in academic circles to refer to ‘Special Jurisdiction Law Enforcement Agencies’ (SLEAs). It’s a term that seems to only be used within the US, and it only refers to LEAs that have either specific jurisdiction (US Park Police, NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement, etc) or jurisdiction within another, usually larger agency’s jurisdiction (school police, hospital police, etc, with the ‘larger’ agency usually being the city police force which the SLEA is located within.

Thirdly, not all members of SLEAs are sworn as ‘special police.’ In the examples provided, for instance, LEOs of the US Park Police or NOAA’s OLE are sworn in the same manner as any other federal LEO. While LEOs in hospital and school agencies are usually sworn as some sort of ‘special’ LEO, my point is that while some SLEAs employ ‘special LEOs,’ not all do.

Lastly, while I like the term, and think it would be useful in describing certain LEAs, we can’t come to our own conclusions or synthesize information; It’s a violation of WP:ORIGINAL.

MWFwiki (talk) 09:03, 10 December 2021 (UTC)