What is a Special Police Officer?

The following WBZ News article describes what a Special Officer is. Paul Langone is a William Cloran Academy graduate. This Special Police Officer utilized his training in an off-duty encounter with an aggressive individual in a dangerous situation:

Oct 28, 2009 3:17 pm US/Eastern
What Is A Special Officer?
BOSTON (WBZ) ―

Special officer Paul Langone killed a man who was attacking a doctor at a Massachusetts General Hospital office building Tuesday.

He’s not a police officer, so what is a special officer?

He’s a licensed security guard hired by private companies, who underwent special training under the supervision of the Boston Police Department.

Special officers in the city of Boston are issued a license and badge, but they are not employed by the city. Special officers have the power to arrest people, and can be licensed to carry a firearm on duty.

Anyone who wants to be licensed as a special officer must pass a 100-hour course of instruction including a written test approved by the police commissioner. Langone completed that program in January 2009.

Special officers are trained at the department’s firing range on the appropriate use of deadly force, which the law allows them to use. But, only to the degree required to overcome what the department describes as “unlawful resistance.”

That regulation applies whether the officers are using firearms or not.