http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1931750,00.html
If anyone says that anarchy won't provide security, and it will lead to chaos, point them to this article. With government decreasing its cop protection, and crime on the rise, citizens have started taking security business into their own hands. Cite this article if anyone claims that free markets cannot provide defense.
Schools are labour camps.
I'm about 3 miles North of Detroit. I'm looking forward to this article - thanks for the tip!
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David Z
"The issue is always the same, the government or the market. There is no third solution."
Aha! Now all of those fools Laughing Man and I were arguing with on a separate forum look like idiots!
A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin. - H.L. Mencken
I wish the security could carry guns. Then crime would really drop. Until then we will have to settle for protection by camera.
Just another example that for a small amount of money, $30 per home, $360 per year, you get a human security guard. That is cheap compared to the thousands of dollars spent in property taxes most of which go to police and fire "services".
The same happened in the UK recently. Sorry can't find the article.
Bogart:I wish the security could carry guns. Then crime would really drop. Until then we will have to settle for protection by camera.
The article did say that's mostly a liability issue: bonding/insuring private armed guards doesn't come cheap, so it's a business decision on behalf of the company providing security.
As an aside, during my freshman/sophmore year in college I worked for a security company. Apparently there is a huge black market for heavy construction equipment like backhoes and the like, so we secured heavy construction sites (schools, retirement homes, hockey arenas, etc.). We usually only worked solo, unarmed, from 6pm-6am. We were very clearly told that under no circumstances were we to "engage" a thief. Although we patrolled the sites, our objective was to deter theft of this equipment, and if unable to do so, our objective became assisting law enforcement via observe & report.
I'm guessing the details in Detroit have similar mandates.
When you consider that the police's abysmal record at recovering stolen items is only dwarfed by their inability to prevent property crime, it's pretty clear that deterrent/observation is sufficient most of the time.
David Z:I'm guessing the details in Detroit have similar mandates.
The situation in Detroit is much worse than what you described. If you call the cops, you can expect them a good 6-8 hours later. The police force is understaffed, over-bureaucratized, and swamped by calls. If neighborhoods were able to pay for their own security, results would be much better.
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krazy kaju: David Z:I'm guessing the details in Detroit have similar mandates. The situation in Detroit is much worse than what you described.
The situation in Detroit is much worse than what you described.
Yes - which is why people are paying for supplemental security from these companies. It is the companies (not the police) which I refer to in the quote above; the mandates I presume are similar to the security company where I was employed.
What I meant by my post was that it would probably be better if those security forces were armed. In Detroit, they probably won't be getting any help from the police in a timely manner when they need it most.
krazy kaju:it would probably be better if those security forces were armed.
Agreed - other than the cost, there's no reason I would pay for supplemental security that wasn't equipped to deal with all manner of criminals.
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