As police forces shrink, private security takes over

NATION

ANDRE BOYER ENTERS THE GAS STATION LIKE A SOLDIER—back straight, boots shined, AR-15 pointed toward the floor. He seems unaware of the flutter of anxiety spreading through the store, but if anyone asked, which they don’t, he’d assure them that he’s there for their own good.

“We’re not here to beat people up,” says Boyer, who heads S.I.T.E, a private protection agency that is patrolling gas stations and hotels in Philadelphia at the behest of store owners. “We’re here to let the public know that they can feel safe.”

Boyer’s armed-guard service has boomed over the past year as Philadelphia police staffing issues led to longer response times. Neil Patel, who owns the gas station, hired Boyer in December after thieves stole an ATM and the police didn’t respond for six hours.

Across the country, police departments that already were struggling to recruit new applicants saw a spike in retirements and a drop-off in new recruits after the 2020 murder of George Floyd and subsequent backlash against police, says Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum. The number of sworn officers dropped 7% from 2019 to 2021 nationwide, according to FBI data.

Meanwhile, crime was rising in many parts of America. Murders, assaults, and car thefts rose nationally in 2020, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, and first responders found themselves busy confronting crises such as homelessness and opioids. These factors bolstered a private security industry that had already been growing steadily since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Since 2020, it’s soared.

Today, there are roughly twice as many security guards employed in the U.S. as there were 20 years ago, according to the Security Industry Association, though the nation’s population has grown only 16% over the same time period. By 2021, there were about two police officers but 3.1 security guards for every 1,000 residents.

“Private security is going to take over everything,” says Boyer. He adds that a father recently hired him to take his two children to the movies, armed with a shotgun, to make sure they were safe.

The rise of private security is both driven by income inequality—wealthy people have more things to protect and money to spend to protect them—and exacerbates it. For every Neil Patel who spends $750 a day for round-the-clock armed guards, there are thousands of business owners and civilians who have t