ABSTRACT
In the UK there are organisations engaged in policing that employ staff who hold powers almost identical to those of public police constables (Home Office). These organisations range in size from the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP), which is larger than many Home Office police forces, to the port police forces, which employ only a handful of constables. This chapter, therefore, considers the multiplicity of police organisations that are often referred to as the ‘non-Home Office’ (or ‘Department’) police constabularies. These constabularies deserve consideration in their own right because, as a result of privatisation, some of these bodies now operate solely for private companies and organisations and often provide their services to a specific group, company or organisation rather than to the public in general. In a similar way they are not an arm of central or local government, nor are they quangos. This chapter illustrates the varying degrees to which these bodies are characterised by publicness or privateness and it demonstrates how some of these organisations could be regarded as private police forces. The chapter starts with a consideration of the larger organisations (such as the MDP, BTP and UK Atomic Energy Authority Constabulary) before moving on to consider the smaller organisations under the categories of parks police and special transport police.
