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I grew up in Africa. It was routine for homeowners to hire armed nightwatchmen. In Nigeria, we had a Touareg guy, with a scimitar. In Morocco, our neighbor had
by ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago
I grew up in Africa.
It was routine for homeowners to hire armed nightwatchmen. In Nigeria, we had a Touareg guy, with a scimitar. In Morocco, our neighbor had guys with machine guns (which meant we didn’t need much more than a wall), but we lived in a nice area. Our neighbor had some relation to the King. In Uganda, our watchman had a staff (and a holstered pistol).
South Africa has so much crime, that even the poorest neighborhoods have broken-glass walls.
- ben_w 2y agoSimilar story when I visited Nairobi with my then-partner: stayed in a fenced compound with guards; and when we visited my partner's friend, on the bus to her place we passed a supermarket which was guarded by someone holding a light machine gun.
- jdeibele 2y agoWe visited somebody in Nairobi. She picked us up at the airport. On the way into her apartment complex, she had to stop her car while the guards ran mirrors under the car to check for bombs. This was shortly after the Westgate Shopping Mall attack. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westgate_shopping_mall_attack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westgate_shopping_mall_attack
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- abenga 2y ago> someone holding a light machine gun That was probably a cop in plainclothes. Private citizens don't open-carry as a matter of course in Kenya.
- churchill 2y agoThe average African country is severely underpoliced. Like, severely, in a way most Westerners can't wrap their heads around. Even though Nigeria claims to have 400k cops, I'm willing to bet at least 100k to 200k are ghost officers. Just like when ISIS started their 2014 offensive and the Iraqi gov. admitted half of their army existed on paper. And, I'm not the one saying it. Nigeria routinely purges thousands of ghost officers from salary rosters and recently claimed it had 80k ghost cops. In a country of 200 million. So, it's a no-brainer why private security is a better deal once you have the means. They're available 24/7 and often have guns, and backup, and other tech.
- 0x1ch 2y agoWe had some good family friends retire to a decent village in Costa Rica and they learned quickly that broken-glass walls were their best defense against thieves.