Officer Starts His Own Private Police Department in Manassas

Michael Youlen is a force to be reckoned with—a police force, that is. 

Youlen, a former Manassas Police officer and private detective, started his own police force, the Manassas Housing Police Authority, in Manassas just over a year ago.

Through the agency, he is equipped with arresting powers, black unmarked cars, a private dispatch service and the ability to call for mutual assistance from neighboring law enforcement. 

The police authority is an independent agency given the same powers by the Virginia Circuit Court as any traditional law enforcement agency, he said. 

"The very notion is new to Northern Virginia, but it is not new to Virginia," Youlen said. "We have a very proud history of private police departments in Virginia." 

Under the law, he's a Conservator of the Peace, a position that goes all the way back to colonial Virginia, even before the word "police" was in the English language, he said. 

It's certainly not an easy thing to start a private police force, Youlen said. 

He had to obtain training and petition the court, which gave him the power to start an independent agency under Virginia Code Ann 9.1-101. Policing powers of the Manassas Housing Police Authority include the city of Manassas, Prince William County and Manassas Park, he said.
 
In the Manassas-area the focus neighborhoods for the agency are: Wildwood, Rollingwood, Baldwin Oaks, Hunter Square, Coverstone II and parts of Point of Woods.  

The agency operates on private funding with enough money for 1.5 positions.  The officers have the goal of dealing with "quality of life issues," or the minor problems before they become big problems, he said. 

The agency works closely with the companies that manage the properties, Youlen said. 

"We're just there as a secondary presence to manage the community," he said. "It must work to a certain degree—calls for service have gone down."

For example, neighbors in one of the areas patrolled by the police authority had issues with a fence constantly being destroyed. They don't anymore, he added. 
Youlen said his agency's goal is to keep nice areas from becoming slums. Another positive side effect of his work is that it helps homes in those areas retain their value. 

Youlen, who has been a police officer for more than five years, said he got the idea to start his own police agency after learning about the Aquia Harbour Police Department in Stafford County. Aquia Harbour Police are responsible patrolling the large, upper-class Aquia Harbour community that's home to some 10,000 people. 

The Manassas Housing Police Authority streams its dispatch calls on its website, mhpapolice.org/.