On Sat, Feb 08, 2003 at 03:20:37AM -0600, Ron Johnson wrote: > > I think government pretty much mops up after the services that aren't > > "sexy" enough for private enterprise to think of it (rapid transit, > > police, fire) and should take control of services everybody needs > > Ever heard of private security guards? It must be sexy enough for > someone... Yes, I have. I currently am one (and I'm lucky enough to be on a stationary post screening people at an infrequently travelled side door to a hospital; something to pass the time until they find me a new beat to drive or make me a dispatcher, sure beats working labor lockouts). While I'm sure my company and any other security company would be glad to try and take on an entire city, the problem is, what private business would hire us to protect an entire city? Anybody who has studied the history of policing and security knows this was already essentially answered centuries ago in England: Nobody. If the government doesn't provide police, nobody will hire the gaurds to do it. > You haven't seen New Orleans City Hall, have you? It is chock full of > Past Masters at corruption, stupidity, laziness, etc. Fraid I haven't been to the South. I hear the people are mostly friendly despite the weather being unbearable year round. > Things must be different up in Oregon, because, here, for instance, even > low-income people will go into debt to get their kids out of the public > schools, and a 1/2 dozen policemen in the pennitentiary, one on death > row, for killing the woman who was to testify against him, and a > policewoman on death row for killing someone who double-crossed her > while she was guarding a drug ring while on duty. (Note that this is > in a small city, not New York, w/ it's 50,000 police!) Yes, things are different here. Worst thing I heard about the Portland Police in my lifetime, other than that Bureau's rather obnoxious Californian chief, was one female officer that lost her badge when she was arrested for marijuana posession last year. > And don't get me started about the streets! A national survey shows > that New Orleans has the 2nd worst streets in the country. I can imagine: I live in a city built on a swamp, and the roads are pretty bad. I can only guess they're worse when your swamp is below sea level. -- .''`. Baloo <baloo@ursine.dyndns.org> : :' : proud Debian admin and user `. `'` `- Debian - when you have better things to do than to fix a system
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