Policing is no longer the exclusive preserve of public law enforcement officials. The commercial demand for private contract security and private policing services grows daily. Research reveals that people engaged in policing functions outside the more traditional public police are now involved in a vast array of policing responsibilities on a daily basis. This paper argues that there must be greater academic and practitioner attention given to the phenomenon of private policing, especially to what it can and cannot offer society in terms of order maintenance and protection. It argues that researchers should redouble their efforts in asking whether private providers are capable of satisfying certain legal and justice criteria, meeting the demands of accountability and developing mutually beneficial and productive models of cooperation with the public sector. In order to shape the future of policing, theorists and practitioners have the unique responsibility to develop public/private cooperative models of policing, test the ideas, and foreshadow preferred policy options. 77 notes