Private Law Enforcement

I have heard stories about private law enforcement being a possibility, but a recent story in Time magazine brought it to light again. In the story, it told of neighborhoods in Detroit where the residents each pay a monthly $30 fee to hire a private company to patrol their streets. The reason they did this is because Detroit's metro police force was cut by 25% and hence couldn't as easily deploy personnel to the outskirts of the city. This local private law enforcement stepped into the gap and the officers ride around the neighborhood with digital cameras and bullet proof vests, checking out suspicious vehicles, people and focusing on empty homes that are especially prone to theft. For the city in general, private security is one of the few growing industries in Detroit, according to Time.

This also reminded me a friend who spent 6 months in South Africa and told me about some private security there. Apparently, theft is high in Cape Town, so parking your car on the street, locks or not, is risky. So there are these guys who walk around in orange vests who will watch your car for a fee while you run inside. From what I remember, she took advantage of that service a couple of times. Lately, I haven't checked up on the status of this industry, but she was by no means a private, limited government type, so I don't think she was making this up.

The worry is often that with the repeal of a government program people will be left floundering because that was the only thing that kept the world going around. However, thanks to self interest, there are people out there always looking for a way to create value and I think the above stories add some credit to the fact that government is only one way of doing things.