Is it time to privatize law enforcement?

Though the concept has frustrated me for the past two years, I’m beginning to thaw to its consideration.

As long as I’m gone and I don’t have to partake.

LE agencies are tasked with having to discover new revenue sources and streams. Local taxes are no longer sufficient when the growing bulk of citizens, legal and illegal, are demanding — in conflict — both greater services, fewer intrusions, and fewer applications of the actual laws on the books and — an ever-expanding service base.

Now, Fornicalia’s Riverside County is considering the charging of inmates whilst in jail. And I say: EXCELLENT!

From CBS.Los.Angeles.com:

Supervisor Jeff Stone introduced an ordinance this week seeking reimbursements for the cost of jailing inmates that an estimated $143 dollars per day.

Stone told the Riverside Press Enterprise the county could reap as much as a $5 million windfall from the move.

If an inmate is unable to cover the costs, the county would put a lien against any real property they may own.

“And we have probably about 25 percent of people that do white-collar crimes in this county, and those are the ones that are going to be put in the county jails, they’re going to be required to pay for their costs,” said Stone.

Why stop there? – I say.

From a February 2011 post:

I hope to be retiring soon. It will be incredibly interesting to see the quality of law enforcement we will get in the future. But first you even have to find people interested in making the kinds of sacrifices demanded by the job. On both fronts: good luck with that.

Perhaps we should privatize all cops. You could pay per call. Those using lots of LE dollars on calls could be tossed into debtors’ prisons because, of course, they’re the ones producing the greatest amounts of problems. We could run a ticket, like a private box medic rig:

-First, taking the call: $190

-Processing and dispatching the call: $100

-Start Fee for responding vehicle: $50

-Plus mileage

-Plus idling/dwell time: $5 per minute (no charge if vehicle shut off)

-$250 per officer for first officer; subsequent officers @ $200 each for first hour

-Each additional hour, per officer, @$300

-Rounds fired from weapons, LTL weapons loads per unit, billed at replacement costs + 10%

-Injuries to officers billed at medical rates + time off + potential rehabilitation + 25%

-Damage to vehicles assessed at replacement/repair costs +10%

And so on.

All fees to be adjusted whenever necessary, so that the private provider doesn’t bear the fiscal burden of additional taxes, fees, fines, and living costs by itself only. The private company will have a bottom line and stockholders to please, as you well know.

Private police should also logically be incentivized such as the private sector. More money for more citations, more money for greater number of arrests, bonuses for solving community problems, bonuses for reducing calls for service in given geographical areas.

This privatization thing for cops could work out well, it appears.

On the other hand, like everyone else, they could be RIF’d during tough times and, like the private sector, strike and walk out if they can get away with it.

They can also leave at any time and join another department at a moment’s notice if it pays better and/or conditions are better.

Good luck getting people to work in high risk/low gain places like NY, LA, Detroit, Houston, New Orleans, Chicago, etc. Private cops would, naturally, want to work for Honolulu or Capitola or New Bedford or Coronado or Beverly Hills — or not work in the field at all. Let someone else make poor pay, few benefits and be shot at, stabbed, spit upon, etc.

I’m starting to like this private sector thing. Yes, high risk but, potentially high gain with bonuses, 401Ks, paid incentives, etc. Otherwise: leave the job and find another.

I am clearly too old for this new paradigm. But I, whilst being thrust aside, readily acknowledge that — at first — it will be a bonus for taxpayers.

One final clue:

You get what you pay for.

BZ