The deterrence effect of police on crime has been well established using modern quasi-experimental micro-econometric methods. Although the results from these studies uniformly suggest that police spending is cost justified, it is worth exploring whether police-like alternatives can deter crime even more cheaply. Unarmed private security personnel that conspicuously patrol a neighborhood have the potential to cheaply leverage the ability of police to be informed of crimes while also providing direct deterrence on their own. In the Fall of 2013, a neighborhood in Oakland, CA mounted a campaign to provide observe and report security patrols to augment the publicly provided policing in the area. While the initial effect of the additional security was a drop in crime, it quickly evaporated, calling into question the value of security forces that do not have the ability to apprehend criminals directly.

使用现代的准实验微观计量经济学方法已经很好地确立了警察对犯罪的威慑作用。尽管这些研究的结果一致地表明，警察支出是合理的，但值得探索的是，类似警察的替代方案是否可以更廉价地威慑犯罪。擅自在附近巡逻的手无寸铁的私人保安人员有可能廉价地利用警察获知犯罪的能力，同时也可以自己提供直接威慑作用。2013年秋天，加利福尼亚州奥克兰的一个社区发起了一场运动，以提供观察和报告安全巡逻，以扩大该地区公开提供的治安管理。虽然增加安全保障的最初效果是犯罪率下降，但很快就消失了，