5 ms·

I'm seeing the same thing in Seattle. Private security has become MUCH more common all over the city in the past few years. I even see apartment buildings hirin

I'm seeing the same thing in Seattle. Private security has become MUCH more common all over the city in the past few years. I even see apartment buildings hiring 24/7 private security that patrols the building and the street around the building as an amenity.

slownews45 5y ago
Overseas the end results if the police are totally defunded or weak is that you tend to end up with really strong differences / ghettos around places where there is and is not security. It's like gated communities on steroids, but starts to include office, mfg and other items like retail (which totally leave places with no security). Can result in shocking differences on both sides of the fence that usually separates these areas. Ironically the police then tend to follow along and provide better security to what are not better areas (if they have any capacity).
- tpmx 5y ago
  Overseas where?
  - z3ncyberpunk 5y ago
    Everywhere? Have you not looked outside?
  - throwaway15579 5y ago
    This is how life is in basically every Central and South American city, in my experience. As soon as a family has some relatively small amount of wealth they will spend it on ultra-secure apartment buildings, tall walls around their house, razor-wire walls and fences, full coverage security cameras and intruder detection, etc.
    - tpmx 5y ago
      I saw jarring signs of that when I visited Mexico City in 2003 - I stayed with a business partner who lived in a walled community guarded by private guards openly carrying submachine guns. Can only imagine that the security has been dialed up a few notches by now. (The source of my confusion: I interpreted "overseas" in a quite literal way - I'm from Europe.)
      - medium_burrito 5y ago
        Did you visit one of the armored car dealerships in Polanco? They are badass.
        tpmx 5y ago
        I did not. I think random violent carjackings had just started happening at scale. The guy who hosted me was getting a bit worried.
cupcake-unicorn 5y ago
Has been the case in the mayor's hood for years: https://laurelhurstcc.com/security/ https://laurelhurstcc.com/security/
- Seattle3503 5y ago
  The mayor lives in a different neighborhood, but that one also has paid patrols iirc.
medium_burrito 5y ago
For the first time in my life I've seen private security in my neighborhood. We're in one of the poorer areas of the city (ie $1-2.5m houses), so perhaps people cannot afford to leave? I've always thought security on demand was a great idea- the real killer app in my mind is having a map online of which houses the private security company protects, so as to create an incentive for people who aren't paying to get protection as the thieves know what's ripe for the picking.
- chasd00 5y ago
  how wold a private security company protect your house? If they were there in the driveway 24x7 then maybe. Once your house is robbed or being robbed if you have to call someone it's already too late. i was a victim of a home invasion and maybe 10 years later a violent crime. In both cases only after the real danger was over did a call for help happen. In the home invasion it ended when the gunman was forcing my roommate to the garage, my roommate opened the door, the gunman walked out, he then slammed/locked the door behind him and we hit the deck calling 911 In the second case i was jumped from behind and knocked nearly unconscious before being robbed. It took me a full 15min to get the brain fog cleared to even think what to do next. i don't see how an app is going to offer any protection at all. Maybe it speeds up reporting crime??
  - Cyberdog 5y ago
    The same way that police ostensibly protect houses; by being there, patrolling randomly, keeping an eye out for things that don't look right.
- C19is20 5y ago
  >We're in one of the poorer areas of the city (ie $1-2.5m houses Is that 'poorer' measured in actual USD $, or old Italian lira or pesos or something? #wishiwaspoorthere.
  - medium_burrito 5y ago
    This is American techbro poor, where rampant asset inflation has been occurring ever since the government has been more or less printing money, and now buying corporate bonds (BOJ of course is the ghost of economy future here, having done this since the late triassic). Not really a purely American problem- everybody else has this too- which is why young people are so pissed everywhere that they have no future.
neither_color 5y ago
I have latin american heritage and that's pretty how much it is in the old country for anyone who can afford it. I won't be surprised if in a few years barbed wire and glass shard fencing becomes more common. The sad thing is America is doing this to itself very willfully through some obvious policy failures while blaming abstract intangible forces like "capitalism."

slownews45 5y ago

Overseas the end results if the police are totally defunded or weak is that you tend to end up with really strong differences / ghettos around places where there is and is not security. It's like gated communities on steroids, but starts to include office, mfg and other items like retail (which totally leave places with no security). Can result in shocking differences on both sides of the fence that usually separates these areas. Ironically the police then tend to follow along and provide better security to what are not better areas (if they have any capacity).

tpmx 5y ago
Overseas where?
- z3ncyberpunk 5y ago
  Everywhere? Have you not looked outside?
- throwaway15579 5y ago
  This is how life is in basically every Central and South American city, in my experience. As soon as a family has some relatively small amount of wealth they will spend it on ultra-secure apartment buildings, tall walls around their house, razor-wire walls and fences, full coverage security cameras and intruder detection, etc.
  - tpmx 5y ago
    I saw jarring signs of that when I visited Mexico City in 2003 - I stayed with a business partner who lived in a walled community guarded by private guards openly carrying submachine guns. Can only imagine that the security has been dialed up a few notches by now. (The source of my confusion: I interpreted "overseas" in a quite literal way - I'm from Europe.)
    - medium_burrito 5y ago
      Did you visit one of the armored car dealerships in Polanco? They are badass.
      - tpmx 5y ago
        I did not. I think random violent carjackings had just started happening at scale. The guy who hosted me was getting a bit worried.

cupcake-unicorn 5y ago

Has been the case in the mayor's hood for years: https://laurelhurstcc.com/security/ https://laurelhurstcc.com/security/

Seattle3503 5y ago
The mayor lives in a different neighborhood, but that one also has paid patrols iirc.

medium_burrito 5y ago

For the first time in my life I've seen private security in my neighborhood. We're in one of the poorer areas of the city (ie $1-2.5m houses), so perhaps people cannot afford to leave? I've always thought security on demand was a great idea- the real killer app in my mind is having a map online of which houses the private security company protects, so as to create an incentive for people who aren't paying to get protection as the thieves know what's ripe for the picking.

chasd00 5y ago
how wold a private security company protect your house? If they were there in the driveway 24x7 then maybe. Once your house is robbed or being robbed if you have to call someone it's already too late. i was a victim of a home invasion and maybe 10 years later a violent crime. In both cases only after the real danger was over did a call for help happen. In the home invasion it ended when the gunman was forcing my roommate to the garage, my roommate opened the door, the gunman walked out, he then slammed/locked the door behind him and we hit the deck calling 911 In the second case i was jumped from behind and knocked nearly unconscious before being robbed. It took me a full 15min to get the brain fog cleared to even think what to do next. i don't see how an app is going to offer any protection at all. Maybe it speeds up reporting crime??
- Cyberdog 5y ago
  The same way that police ostensibly protect houses; by being there, patrolling randomly, keeping an eye out for things that don't look right.
C19is20 5y ago
>We're in one of the poorer areas of the city (ie $1-2.5m houses Is that 'poorer' measured in actual USD $, or old Italian lira or pesos or something? #wishiwaspoorthere.
- medium_burrito 5y ago
  This is American techbro poor, where rampant asset inflation has been occurring ever since the government has been more or less printing money, and now buying corporate bonds (BOJ of course is the ghost of economy future here, having done this since the late triassic). Not really a purely American problem- everybody else has this too- which is why young people are so pissed everywhere that they have no future.

neither_color 5y ago

I have latin american heritage and that's pretty how much it is in the old country for anyone who can afford it. I won't be surprised if in a few years barbed wire and glass shard fencing becomes more common. The sad thing is America is doing this to itself very willfully through some obvious policy failures while blaming abstract intangible forces like "capitalism."