Given the often covert, yet broad coercive powers of private security personnel, it is somewhat anomalous that the general public and policymakers pay seemingly much greater attention to the daily activities of the public police than to the private sector. Yet, to have the private sector operate in an unregulated market and to allow its operatives to be unaccountable for their actions is clearly unsatisfactory from a public policy view. Current themes in this important area of policy development are examined that focus on private police powers and on accountability through government regulation, civil law, criminal law, industry self-regulation, market forces, and industry standards and third parties. The author contends that more research is needed as the trend toward pluralization of policing continues and the distinction between public and private police operations blurs. 35 references