After documenting the substantial growth of private policing in countries throughout the world, the author notes that the division of policing responsibilities between public and private authorities has become increasingly blurred and contested during the last three decades. Because private policing is so often assessed on the basis of criteria applied to the public police, substantial myths have developed regarding the powers and accountability of private police; specifically, it is commonly argued that private police have no significant powers and are essentially not accountable for their performance compared to public police. The author argues that such assertions misrepresent the substantial coercive power of private police as well as the variety of mechanisms through which they may be held accountable, while exaggerating the effectiveness of accountability mechanisms for public police. The author concludes that a greater appreciation of the actual power and accountability of private police will provide an improved basis for the development of sound public policy with respect to both private and public policing, as well as with respect to appropriate relationships between private and public policing organizations. 101 references