Private security companies are acting like real cops

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/08/17/CM6514.DTL

The black Ford Crown Victoria made a hard shadow in the dark. It peeled sharply from a Berkeley residential lane, carrying two men dressed in green- and-black military-style uniforms. Searchlights were mounted on both sides of the car, with decals depicting twin skyscrapers on its doors. Add to that the large block letters across the trunk reading "Intervention Agency" and one might have easily imagined Homeland Security had come to town. The car spun once more around the block before re-emerging on Sacramento Street and disappearing in the night.

The two men, in their early 30s, were clean and sturdy. Professional. Their trappings - police car model-of-choice, uniforms, military ranks, name on the trunk, and the guns they wore - implied for all the world that they were government agents. But that wasn't the case. They were private security officers. "We don't want to mislead the public," said one of the men, who goes by Sgt. Leonard Montalvo. "Our car does resemble somewhat the police, but if you look closely, it says security on all sides and our uniforms are very different. We have an LAPD-style badge, but we have green shirts, which nobody up here has green shirts."

Private security guards are increasingly performing functions that until recently were the exclusive province of police. In a world of organized terrorists and overburdened cops, the private security trade is booming. Security companies now patrol and make arrests at housing projects, both poor and rich (read: gated communities), as well as malls, office buildings, airports and business districts. They guard naval ships and nuclear plants and investigate all manner of crime, including murder and fraud. Towns are contracting with private firms for non-emergency duties, like crime-scene security, alarm response and ticketing.

Yet there are fundamental differences. For one, there is no oversight or accountability to speak of. Government regulation is weak to nonexistent. And security workers are not beholden to the public. They take orders from company and property owners, who have their own priorities. The distinction contradicts a central tenet of public policing as well as traditional democratic theory: Government serves the community at large, for the good of the whole, regardless of class. But that was the way it used to be. Today, social services must pay their own way. Just like the health industry - formerly known as the medical profession - and the education system, police departments are in the process of being commodified. As a result, much to the consternation of taxpayers, one finds even public safety is often limited by one's ability to pay.

--snip--

Even now, you could pass cradle to grave in a private security bubble. The largest corporations, multinationals such as Burns, Pinkerton and Wackenhut, offer a smorgasbord of security services, including housing and commercial patrols, executive protection, intelligence and counter-terrorism training, and construction and operation of prisons. Ericson said, "There are certain areas in Florida" - home of Wackenhut HQ - "where your housing estate is policed by Wackenhut, you get on the train to go to work and that's policed by Wackenhut, and you get to work and the corporate office is policed by Wackenhut. And if you do something wrong, you end up in a Wackenhut prison."

That last paragraph reminds me of the world of Robocop. Is this the next step for the US?

[Iluvleiberman]

1. There is just one diff between renta cops and real cops

Real cops are not affected by gun laws. Renta cops in CA can't get much in the way of any firearms.

So at least they can't run around and shoot people.