We are insane.
An entrepreneur persuaded New Orleans to let him create a high-tech police force
41–49 of 49 posts
Re: An entrepreneur persuaded New Orleans to let him create a high-tech police force
#42"...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 c…
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 gam…
He's paying police officers to put in extra hours on his behalf, outside the hours the government is able to pay for, to selectively enforce laws that further his personal interests. That should set off some alarm bells.
Re: An entrepreneur persuaded New Orleans to let him create a high-tech police force
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
San Francisco has a private police force that predates the public one. And is less corrupt. http://reason.com/archives/2015/07/21/san-franciscos-private...
The San Francisco police have 2,000+ officers. The San Francisco Patrol Special Police you refer to have 40. I'd both be interested in the metric you're using to determine "less corrupt" and in how that metric would look if they had 2,000 officers like the SFPD.
The article goes into it from a historical perspective, but one only has to search "SFPD Corruption" to find many examples. And officers who try to be ethical get punished by the others.
http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/sfpd-tries-to-fire-cop-...
Re: An entrepreneur persuaded New Orleans to let him create a high-tech police force
#44"...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 c…
> "'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-s...
Re: An entrepreneur persuaded New Orleans to let him create a high-tech police force
#45The raise of "private cops" should not surprise anyone. In US where income inequality has risen to greater proportions and the city budgets stagnated. Gated communities, private security and private cops are the next steps of it. They are not as much accountable to public at large. It is tempting to paint all the private cops in a bad picture, but there is some good coming out of it. Where the City Police has become…
Rise? The original police forces were created and controlled by company towns.
Re: An entrepreneur persuaded New Orleans to let him create a high-tech police force
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
The San Francisco police have 2,000+ officers. The San Francisco Patrol Special Police you refer to have 40. I'd both be interested in the metric you're using to determine "less corrupt" and in how that metric would look if they had 2,000 officers like the SFPD.
The article goes into it from a historical perspective, but one only has to search "SFPD Corruption" to find many examples. And officers who try to be ethical get punished by the others. http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/sfpd-tries-to-fire-cop-...
As I noted, the SFPD is 50+ times the size, and I'm interested in an actual metric, not anecdotes. I'm pretty suspicious of the contention that a private police force would be somehow immune to corruption - it certainly hasn't been the case with groups like Blackwater.
Re: An entrepreneur persuaded New Orleans to let him create a high-tech police force
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
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.
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.
Re: An entrepreneur persuaded New Orleans to let him create a high-tech police force
#48"...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 c…
This feels like the reverse of the NYT joke:
"Crime cleaned up; wealthy, privileged to benefit the most"
Re: An entrepreneur persuaded New Orleans to let him create a high-tech police force
#49Oh my god. If the US will start to privatise police then we soon have that all over the planet.
San Francisco has a private police force that predates the public one. And is less corrupt. http://reason.com/archives/2015/07/21/san-franciscos-private...
We have done privatising of public services already in many areas, and I can't remember a single one were it was advantageous for the public. In Germany they started with telephone companies and suddenly many cities (even major ones) lacked coverage, even some smaller towns are left completely without modern technologies. Trains now are nearly unusable, always running late, always being broken, etc.
If you privatise the police force you end up with protecting the rich from the poor, which some might argue is even currently what happens too much. It will be more like that, though, not less. Because then a company does the protection and companies want money and are often not required by law to actually provide real, well spread service. And if you have no imagination for worst case scenarios then have a look what big companies with private armees like Nestle do in third world countries without the government being able to fight back because the companies simply have more fighting power.
We slowly shift from a country based society to a company based society. And sadly we have not fought for any rules considering health care, protection of our goods, etc with companies. We only have rights in the face of countries. No countries, no rights. At least that how it looks more and more.