Businesses, homeowners and communities around the world are increasingly relying on private security rather than tax-supported police. Observers say the growth in private security is a reaction to the failure of government to cope with rising crime.

• In 1970 there were 1.4 public police for each private security guard in the United States.

• Now there are three private police for each public one, and in California the ratio is four to one.

• And as early as 1978, General Motors alone had a private police force of 4,200 -- more than all but five American cities.

Today Americans spend about $90 billion a year on private security, but only $40 billion on police. Even the government spends more hiring private guards than it does paying for police forces.

The trend isn't confined to the United States.

• In Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia there are roughly twice as many private guards as public police.

• But in extremely lawless places such as Russia and South Africa, there are at least 10 times as many private-security guards as public police.

Observers say the growth in private-sector crime control hasn't come at the expense of police -- the ranks of government police have grown. But crime has grown faster. Police productivity may be contributing to the trend: police clear only about a fifth of reported crimes in the U.S.; in Britain it's one-fourth; and in Canada, one-sixth.