Talk:Why I am not sure about the police

From CroziervisionWiki

One downside of the state monopoly on force is that the police are going empire-building.

The Economist has an article in the Aug 18th 2005 issue about the relationship between the police and the private security industry. The first paragraph:

<quote> EVER since four bombs exploded in London on July 7th, the police have put on a show of force. Armed officers loiter in front of public buildings, while brightly-clad police community support officers (PCSOs) patrol station concourses. The point is to deter terrorists, but there's another message, too. Even before the attacks, the police admitted that they wanted to dominate the security business. As Sir Ian Blair, commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, put it: “We're trying to monopolise the market.” </quote>

The idea is that the Community Support Officers are being used to compete with private security:

<quote> Unlike police officers, PCSOs can easily be sold to local authorities, housing associations and shopping malls, doing their bidding while remaining under the nominal control of the police. In London, buyers have been found for more than 600 officers, with most going to Transport for London, which manages the bus network. At a total cost of about £35,000 ($63,000) per year, they are more expensive than security guards, but a lot cheaper than sworn officers—and they have other advantages, such as police radios. Thanks to them, the police can compete against private providers. “PCSOs have skewed the market,” says Richard Childs, a former chief constable who is now a security consultant. </quote>

Along with this, government regulation of security firms is increasing. In the medium term, we can look forward to unionisation of the PCSOs, and a declining service. At the very least, police officers and CSOs generally patrol in pairs, at least doubling the cost of the patrol.