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"...Torres’s squad, the French Quarter Task Force, which at all hours had three armed officers zigzagging the neighborhood in matte black Polaris Rangers that r

"...Torres’s squad, the French Quarter Task Force, which at all hours had three armed officers zigzagging the neighborhood in matte black Polaris Rangers that resemble militarized golf carts." "Torres also became involved in setting policy. Earlier that week, his force had coordinated with the N.O.P.D. in two huge arrest sweeps of so-called transients, whose familiar panhandling presence in the neighborhood (ragged clothes, mangy dogs, rusted harmonicas) had not been the subject of recent outrage. But Torres believed them to be a nuisance...The targets of the arrests had not been connected to any serious crimes, and some of the city’s residents saw the move as questionable." "'Crazy, right?' Torres later said. 'I kind of felt like Bruce Wayne.'" So basically this rich businessman has a small force of armed private police legally roaming his neighborhood because a) he had his home burglarized and was pissed off b) he wanted to get rid of some homeless people to raise property values in the rich quarter, where he and his family/friends own a lot of property c) it makes him feel like Batman. It's sad that the current state of public policing has not only allowed, but necessitated this type of questionable vigilante justice.

JoeAltmaier 11y ago
Two words: New Orleans
- flihp 11y ago
  I was expecting them to be Bobby Jindal
tomohawk 11y ago
This is not vigilante justice. These are off duty police officers working as an officially sanctioned part of the local government, which is obviously failing to get the job done. A vigilante would shoot the malefactors on the spot, but these officers are arresting the individuals in cooperation with the nopd and their cases are adjudicated like any others. I don't see any problem with someone who has skin in the game and who is passionate getting involved in local governance and trying to find a better way forward. The fact that he is rich and politically connected makes him that much more able to tackle the problem. I suppose the optics would be better if he just packed up and left town and left New Orleans to stew in its own juice. Then he couldn't be accused of a rich guy bossing little guys around. However, this guy has a wealth, talent, and influence, and he's choosing to apply them responsibly. He should be applauded.
- roymurdock 11y ago
  All good points you raise. I think what really bothers me about this private police force is the fact that they act so specifically to the will of one man, rather than as a public unit that is funded by the people and administered effectively to serve the people. I would applaud his actions if he was a publicly elected official. Giuliani and the NYPD did a great job in NY. It just rubs me the wrong way that this man gets to subvert the system and hire a squad of armed off-duty police officers to respond to his beck and call. Disruption is one thing when you're a tech startup in silicon valley. It's a whole different beast when it involves cops for hire in armored golf carts, driving around with guns.
  - Thriptic 11y ago
    On the surface this arrangement doesn't strike me as being that different from university police departments, which have been in existence successfully for quite some time.
    - roymurdock 11y ago
      Constituents and sources of funding differ from a university to a city. Most universities and gated communities are, in effect, private cities within larger municipalities. A "Private" city generally has a private police force paid for by the inhabitants, and a public city should have a public police force paid for by the public. This guy is taking private policing to his surrounding public neighborhood.
- otoburb 11y ago
  >These are off duty police officers working as an officially sanctioned part of the local government [...] Are armed off-duty police officers working a second job allowed to use their own municipally-provided sidearms, or must they purchase and use their own? I assume the latter, unless all police officers might be asked to purchase and register their own sidearms for use on- and off-duty.
- michaelt 11y ago
  I don't see any problem with someone who has skin in the game and who is passionate getting involved [...] The fact that he is rich and politically connected makes him that much more able to tackle the problem. One traditional hazard is when the people with the power to solve problems solve them for themselves but not for everyone, so they lose their skin in the game before they finish the job properly. An example: * Me and the mayor live on the same street, in the rich area of town, where there are ten potholes that really annoy us both. I'm always bugging him about it. * There are a thousand potholes over the rest of the city. The mayor can't afford to fix them this year, but he'd like to soon. Maybe with a tax increase, or a cut to the parks budget? * I form a local pothole-fixing task force. With the mayor's consent, my neighbours and I raise $2000 and hire someone to fix the ten potholes that annoy us. * The mayor is no longer annoyed by potholes, and I no longer bug him about it. He realises nobody really wants a tax increase, or a cut to the parks budget. * The remaining 990 potholes don't get fixed. Sucks not to live in the rich part of town! If Torres was sending his forces across the entire city equally, it would be a different matter! But fixing 10 potholes is much easier to afford than fixing 1000.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
pjc50 11y ago
Isn't this almost literally the plot of Robocop?
daniel-levin 11y ago
This is very close to the model of private active security in wealthier suburbs of Johannesburg [1], [2], [3]. Crime in suburbs got so bad that residents are prepared to pay for active patrolling. There are 24 hour patrols by armed guards, many of whom are ex-military. It is quite fucked up to think that we are paying armed men to drive around my suburb all day and night to stop other armed men from coming into my house. These companies also do investigations and are permitted to (citizens') arrest people under certain circumstances. They ostensibly supplement the police, but effectively supplant them. It must be mentioned that these services work tremendously well and crime has been driven to near zero in many areas. [1] http://www.capgroup.org.za/ http://www.capgroup.org.za/ [2] http://www.csstactical.co.za/ http://www.csstactical.co.za/ [3] http://www.24-7security.co.za/ http://www.24-7security.co.za/
sixothree 11y ago
I live in New Orleans and need to point out that this task force is not a solution looking for a problem. Crime is very real in the French Quarter and there is an overwhelming, obvious, and consistent presence of people who only want to take something from you. The French Quarter may be fun and exciting when you're with a group of people but finding yourself on one of the many side-streets and without a crowd of people can be scary. I remember in 2005 I got my first iPod. The first thing I did was replace the white headphones with black headphones so nobody would know I actually had something worth stealing. I vacationed in New York for the first time that year and was absolutely amazed by how safe and comforting the place was. There's this long running extortion con people like to play on tourist. It goes like this... "I bet you a dollar I know where you got your shoes" "Yeah?" "You got your shoes on your feet walking down St. Peter street." "Now....Give me that dollar." At 4:00 in the afternoon you just give the dollar or just walk away. Maybe at 9:00 PM street is empty and there's only you and your friend. He's insistent. He's not going to have change. You're reaching into your purse. This same con has been going on since the 1980's and nobody seems to do anything about it. I don't want people coming to my city and having the experience I just described. And please note I'm making no commentary on the task force. I'm just making notes on the current situation.
- voidz 11y ago
  Off topic, but that happened to me once, as a tourist from Europe visiting San Francisco. Only difference was that the guy who played this routine on me, wanted $15 per shoe. I was a naive 23 y.o. kid, but really entertained because he played me well, so I said "No way man, I'll give you $5 for both!" Meanwhile his buddy was pressuring him to get going, so the guy was really annoyed with me, but took the $5 and ran off to the guy shouting to him to get into the car. Only later, back in Europe, did I realise how close I could have been to a totally different outcome, so to me life stopped being a given when I realised that. gulp
pessimizer 11y ago
> "'Crazy, right?' Torres later said. 'I kind of felt like Bruce Wayne.'" The Batman comic where he rounds up the homeless and imprisons them sounds unbelievably depressing. It can't be as bad as the story where Batman exterminates the street children of Rio de Janeiro, though, so there's that. http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-08/news/mn-324_1_death-squads http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-08/news/mn-324_1_death-s...
SilasX 11y ago
This feels like the reverse of the NYT joke: "Crime cleaned up; wealthy, privileged to benefit the most"

JoeAltmaier 11y ago

Two words: New Orleans

flihp 11y ago
I was expecting them to be Bobby Jindal

tomohawk 11y ago

This is not vigilante justice. These are off duty police officers working as an officially sanctioned part of the local government, which is obviously failing to get the job done. A vigilante would shoot the malefactors on the spot, but these officers are arresting the individuals in cooperation with the nopd and their cases are adjudicated like any others. I don't see any problem with someone who has skin in the game and who is passionate getting involved in local governance and trying to find a better way forward. The fact that he is rich and politically connected makes him that much more able to tackle the problem. I suppose the optics would be better if he just packed up and left town and left New Orleans to stew in its own juice. Then he couldn't be accused of a rich guy bossing little guys around. However, this guy has a wealth, talent, and influence, and he's choosing to apply them responsibly. He should be applauded.

roymurdock 11y ago
All good points you raise. I think what really bothers me about this private police force is the fact that they act so specifically to the will of one man, rather than as a public unit that is funded by the people and administered effectively to serve the people. I would applaud his actions if he was a publicly elected official. Giuliani and the NYPD did a great job in NY. It just rubs me the wrong way that this man gets to subvert the system and hire a squad of armed off-duty police officers to respond to his beck and call. Disruption is one thing when you're a tech startup in silicon valley. It's a whole different beast when it involves cops for hire in armored golf carts, driving around with guns.
- Thriptic 11y ago
  On the surface this arrangement doesn't strike me as being that different from university police departments, which have been in existence successfully for quite some time.
  - roymurdock 11y ago
    Constituents and sources of funding differ from a university to a city. Most universities and gated communities are, in effect, private cities within larger municipalities. A "Private" city generally has a private police force paid for by the inhabitants, and a public city should have a public police force paid for by the public. This guy is taking private policing to his surrounding public neighborhood.
otoburb 11y ago
>These are off duty police officers working as an officially sanctioned part of the local government [...] Are armed off-duty police officers working a second job allowed to use their own municipally-provided sidearms, or must they purchase and use their own? I assume the latter, unless all police officers might be asked to purchase and register their own sidearms for use on- and off-duty.
michaelt 11y ago
I don't see any problem with someone who has skin in the game and who is passionate getting involved [...] The fact that he is rich and politically connected makes him that much more able to tackle the problem. One traditional hazard is when the people with the power to solve problems solve them for themselves but not for everyone, so they lose their skin in the game before they finish the job properly. An example: * Me and the mayor live on the same street, in the rich area of town, where there are ten potholes that really annoy us both. I'm always bugging him about it. * There are a thousand potholes over the rest of the city. The mayor can't afford to fix them this year, but he'd like to soon. Maybe with a tax increase, or a cut to the parks budget? * I form a local pothole-fixing task force. With the mayor's consent, my neighbours and I raise $2000 and hire someone to fix the ten potholes that annoy us. * The mayor is no longer annoyed by potholes, and I no longer bug him about it. He realises nobody really wants a tax increase, or a cut to the parks budget. * The remaining 990 potholes don't get fixed. Sucks not to live in the rich part of town! If Torres was sending his forces across the entire city equally, it would be a different matter! But fixing 10 potholes is much easier to afford than fixing 1000.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

pjc50 11y ago

Isn't this almost literally the plot of Robocop?

daniel-levin 11y ago

This is very close to the model of private active security in wealthier suburbs of Johannesburg [1], [2], [3]. Crime in suburbs got so bad that residents are prepared to pay for active patrolling. There are 24 hour patrols by armed guards, many of whom are ex-military. It is quite fucked up to think that we are paying armed men to drive around my suburb all day and night to stop other armed men from coming into my house. These companies also do investigations and are permitted to (citizens') arrest people under certain circumstances. They ostensibly supplement the police, but effectively supplant them. It must be mentioned that these services work tremendously well and crime has been driven to near zero in many areas. [1] http://www.capgroup.org.za/ http://www.capgroup.org.za/ [2] http://www.csstactical.co.za/ http://www.csstactical.co.za/ [3] http://www.24-7security.co.za/ http://www.24-7security.co.za/

sixothree 11y ago

I live in New Orleans and need to point out that this task force is not a solution looking for a problem. Crime is very real in the French Quarter and there is an overwhelming, obvious, and consistent presence of people who only want to take something from you. The French Quarter may be fun and exciting when you're with a group of people but finding yourself on one of the many side-streets and without a crowd of people can be scary. I remember in 2005 I got my first iPod. The first thing I did was replace the white headphones with black headphones so nobody would know I actually had something worth stealing. I vacationed in New York for the first time that year and was absolutely amazed by how safe and comforting the place was. There's this long running extortion con people like to play on tourist. It goes like this... "I bet you a dollar I know where you got your shoes" "Yeah?" "You got your shoes on your feet walking down St. Peter street." "Now....Give me that dollar." At 4:00 in the afternoon you just give the dollar or just walk away. Maybe at 9:00 PM street is empty and there's only you and your friend. He's insistent. He's not going to have change. You're reaching into your purse. This same con has been going on since the 1980's and nobody seems to do anything about it. I don't want people coming to my city and having the experience I just described. And please note I'm making no commentary on the task force. I'm just making notes on the current situation.

voidz 11y ago
Off topic, but that happened to me once, as a tourist from Europe visiting San Francisco. Only difference was that the guy who played this routine on me, wanted $15 per shoe. I was a naive 23 y.o. kid, but really entertained because he played me well, so I said "No way man, I'll give you $5 for both!" Meanwhile his buddy was pressuring him to get going, so the guy was really annoyed with me, but took the $5 and ran off to the guy shouting to him to get into the car. Only later, back in Europe, did I realise how close I could have been to a totally different outcome, so to me life stopped being a given when I realised that. gulp

pessimizer 11y ago

> "'Crazy, right?' Torres later said. 'I kind of felt like Bruce Wayne.'" The Batman comic where he rounds up the homeless and imprisons them sounds unbelievably depressing. It can't be as bad as the story where Batman exterminates the street children of Rio de Janeiro, though, so there's that. http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-08/news/mn-324_1_death-squads http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-08/news/mn-324_1_death-s...

SilasX 11y ago

This feels like the reverse of the NYT joke: "Crime cleaned up; wealthy, privileged to benefit the most"