Facebook has been accused of 'privatizing the law' by paying a local Silicon Valley police department $11.2 million to create an entire unit that is responsible for protecting the tech giant's campus.

The Menlo Park Police Department created a new fully-staffed unit, dubbed the Facebook Unit, back on August 1.

The unit has its own beat within the local area, which is known as 'beat 4', that covers the area in and around Facebook's campus in Menlo Park.

Local activists and residents have since criticized the relationship between Facebook and Menlo Park Police and claim the tech giant is privatizing the law.

Public records recently obtained by Vice's Motherboard, which date back several years, detail how the partnership came about and the negotiations that it involved.

Notes, proposals and emails between Facebook and police also flag concerns about the relationship between the two entities given the unit is one of the only privately-funded public police forces in the country.

Facebook has been accused of 'privatizing the law' by paying a local Silicon Valley police department $11.2 million to create an entire unit that is responsible for protecting the tech giant's campus in Menlo Park

The documents show that Facebook first approached the Menlo Park Police Department back in 2016 about providing funding for a new unit.

They proposed a unit with five officers and one sergeant to patrol and cover the zone involving its campus.

Emails between police and Facebook detailed the proposal and strategies to create the unit. Facebook often checked in with police about the status of the unit and when it could become active, according to the documents.

In negotiating the costs of funding the unit, documents show that some city officials had flagged concerns about how it would be 'bad public policy' to accept payment from a company in exchange for city services.

City officials worked out the unit would cost roughly $11.2 million over five years.

The city arranged for Facebook to pay the money into its unrestricted general fund. It meant it was a way to argue that Facebook wasn't actually paying for police because the city had no obligation to use that money to fund the force.

Given this arrangement, there is no way of knowing if Facebook's money directly goes towards the Facebook Unit.

As part of their proposal to start the Facebook Unit, the tech giant flagged concerns about potential security threats the company faced and noted the police presence that would be required should something happen.

Menlo Park Police chief Dave Bertini said he had 'no doubt' that Facebook would be a target.

The Menlo Park Police Department created a new fully-staffed unit, dubbed the Facebook Unit, back on August 1

'It's not a matter of if we're going to have an armed intruder, it's just a matter of when,' he said.

'I don't want to focus on terrorism. We're also worried about domestic terrorism or someone with a mental illness who shows up at the Facebook campus saying they have a meeting with (Mark) Zuckerberg.'

Several police reports show that officers have chased down people spotted riding Facebook's blue bikes off-campus after being alerted by the tech giant's security.

The company provides the bikes for employees to ride around campus.

In one case back in 2015, which police say they don't recall, police apprehended a man who turned out to be an employee. Facebook asked for no charges to be filed against him and so police dropped it.

Local activist groups claim Facebook is privatizing the law by having its own police unit and have raised concerns about the force's relationship with the tech giant.

'You create a danger when you have public servants being privately funded,' J.T. Faraji, a local resident and founder of the Real Community Coalition, told Motherboard.

'It becomes the privatization of the law, and the law is supposed to work for everyone. To me, that's a major breakdown in the system. It should be illegal for private corporations to have their own police force.'

Facebook, however, dismissed these claims.

'Our funding is not a privatization of the law,' a Facebook spokesperson said.

'We have a long-term commitment to Menlo Park, and we want it to remain a safe and inclusive environment for everyone who calls it home.'