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Privatizing police forces will not make them more accountable. If they are not accountable now as a public good, how would them being private somehow improve th

Privatizing police forces will not make them more accountable. If they are not accountable now as a public good, how would them being private somehow improve that? The only comparable example was charter schools and the results were they cost the taxpayers more, and had worse outcomes, and rarely is their charter revoked for poor performance because they hire the sons of politicians, like Chakrah Fattah's son was before both were charged for corruption, in the case of Philly charter schools.

EGreg 4y ago
Because if a better police agency with better results comes along, the neighborhood will simply award the police agencies the contract. How is Gilette accountable for making razors worse than other brands? You stop buying them, that's how.
- sc68cal 4y ago
  A police force is not like picking your razor blade at the store. How is there enough space in a market to have multiple police companies, when most municipalities are going to award a _single_ contract to cover the police work for that municipality. If there is only one contract to award, that means one police company would win and the others go out of business, or leave the "market" and go somewhere else. That is a natural monopoly, and all you have done is replicated the same issues as a public police force that the politicians are not willing to challenge, except now you have a private monopoly where you can't force any changes or accountability because there's no other competitors. The "market" does not make things intrinsically better.
  - EGreg 4y ago
    How do companies compete for business from cities and neighborhoods? You should look up "enterprise sales" on HN, lol Google "New Jersey Townships" and see how many there are. Companies can sell smart city services to cities, why not this? You'd be surprised but many religious communities do have their own para-police forces, like Shomrim, and also their own ambulances etc. Caution: What you DON'T want to happen is overlapping fire brigades or police forces like NYC's metropolitan police vs municipal police, or bowery boys vs black joke https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zoXk1vnmcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zoXk1vnmcg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Police_riot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Police_riot

EGreg 4y ago

Because if a better police agency with better results comes along, the neighborhood will simply award the police agencies the contract. How is Gilette accountable for making razors worse than other brands? You stop buying them, that's how.

sc68cal 4y ago
A police force is not like picking your razor blade at the store. How is there enough space in a market to have multiple police companies, when most municipalities are going to award a _single_ contract to cover the police work for that municipality. If there is only one contract to award, that means one police company would win and the others go out of business, or leave the "market" and go somewhere else. That is a natural monopoly, and all you have done is replicated the same issues as a public police force that the politicians are not willing to challenge, except now you have a private monopoly where you can't force any changes or accountability because there's no other competitors. The "market" does not make things intrinsically better.
- EGreg 4y ago
  How do companies compete for business from cities and neighborhoods? You should look up "enterprise sales" on HN, lol Google "New Jersey Townships" and see how many there are. Companies can sell smart city services to cities, why not this? You'd be surprised but many religious communities do have their own para-police forces, like Shomrim, and also their own ambulances etc. Caution: What you DON'T want to happen is overlapping fire brigades or police forces like NYC's metropolitan police vs municipal police, or bowery boys vs black joke https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zoXk1vnmcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zoXk1vnmcg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Police_riot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Police_riot