{Mesa} Arizona police force turns to civilian investigators (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Paul Adams
BBC News, Mesa, Arizona

The city of Mesa in the US state of Arizona has turned over some police duties to a new team of civilian investigators. The BBC's Paul Adams says the programme is a law enforcement innovation - and policing on the cheap in an era of government cuts.

In the only programme of its kind anywhere in the United States, Mesa's nine civilian investigation specialists are handling work normally reserved for uniformed officers.

Plenty of other police departments employ civilians to handle DNA and fingerprint collection or perform clerical work, but nowhere do they perform the range of functions Mesa's unit has handled since its inception in 2009.

From crime scene processing to fraud investigations and a lot of patient hand-holding, the civilians appear to be making an impact.
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more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12754776

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. How do you get privatization from this? It appears that the investigators are city employees

This opens some roles to non-uniformed personnel which many might consider a good thing.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. You're right, I was *assuming* they had been contracted out.

Edited out earlier comment.