One of most dangerous cities in US plans to ditch police force

All it is, is a Union vs non-union issue.

As was posted earlier, hire more people at lower wages

While I support the use of private security in certain areas I do not want to see them doing the job of law enforcement.

The laws currently in place that apply to law enforcement do not apply to private security. Law Enforcement is subject to 42 USC 1983 where as security is not (generally). For those who think its bad now imagine a "police force" where the private security officers are not subject to restrictions / requirements / court rulings / constitutional rights. Secondly it would require all states / city / county governments to modify their laws to lawfully establish private security for law enforcement functions. Then they would need to change the laws in terms of public and private property.

As an example take a look at the TSA. They are security (they do have some commissioned officers) and we know how much everyone loves them.

@ the comment about police forces being a corporation -
Where do you guys get that from? Law Enforcement has nothing to do with collecting fines / imposing fines / imposing fees / establishing punishment etc etc.

County Level - equivelant to a direct democracy - authorized by state constitution and law.
Sheriff's office - Elected directly by the people - required to maintain jails and court security. They are not required to operate a sheriff's patrol (varies). Fines go into the general fund for the county as well as the state and those fines are levied by the courts.

Municipal level - equivelant to a Republic - authorized by state constitution and law
Police Department - Depending on the type of city government citizens directly elect their city commissioners. Those officials in turn hire a city manager who is responsible for day to day operations of the city (again depending on form of government). The Police / Fire heads are hired by the city, answer directly to the city manager who in turn answers to city council. Fines for law / ordinace violations go into the citys general fund and are again levied by the courts.

Federal level - Republic - authorized by the constitution and law
Federal Law Enforcement - Citizens elect the President (electoral) / Congressional reps (direct). In turn the President nominates individuals to oversee those agencies with consent to hire coming from the Senate. Fines for law violations are levied by the courts.


All 3 examples are consistent with a government of, by and for the people. I say this because if people would get off their asses and vote instead of just complaining we could make the changes needed to fix some of the problems / issues. In order to do that the people must know how their government works.


As for the OP topic a Metro unit is generally a combination of municipal and sheriffs departments. As an example we can look at Las Vegas Metro Police. Las Vegas Metro comprises Las Vegas city police and Clark County Sheriffs office into one unified element - Las Vegas Metro. The Clark county government is separate from the Las Vegas city government with the exeption of law enforcement. To my knowledge the only entities in Clark County that is not part of the metro is are Henderson, North Las Vegas, Boulder City and Mesquite, who maintain a separate police department controled by the city (last I checked).

Metropolitan Police - wiki
Las Vegas Metro Police

Clark County NV Government
Population - about 2 million
Metro Police budget - FY 2011–2012: $501,307,011 (501 million)

Imagine how lopsided the police would be if Las Vegas maintained its own police agency. The lost money would place a massive strain onto the Sheriff's office since a large chunk of the budget comes from Vegas.

Why duplicate services especially in larger populated areas? Larger populated areas are more apt to have law violations that cross many jurisdictional lines. More often than not an investigation into a crime leads that agency into other jurisdictions, who in turn are using their police department to investigate the same crimes in their city. You also place a strain on the legal system in those cities where a metro department is able to investigate and submit charges regardless of where the crime occured.

reply to post by Xcathdra

While I support the use of private security in certain areas I do not want to see them doing the job of law enforcement.

Neither do I! I do not want to see Law Enforcement doing the job of law Enforcement! Which is to extort imprison and even murder people who have harmed no one and do it in the name of protecting people! Law Enforcement is a criminal gang the should be brought up on RICO charges!

@ the comment about police forces being a corporation -
Where do you guys get that from? Law Enforcement has nothing to do with collecting fines / imposing fines / imposing fees / establishing punishment etc etc.

Ah listen to the corporate drone who has no clue who or what he works for. Give me the name of your agency and I will prove to you that it is a private for profit corporation and that you actually have no powers of arrest etc. Or you can look it up yourself on Dunn & Bradstreet

Also just LOL at you saying you have nothing to do with collecting fines imposing them. Gee ever arrested someone with for a warrant for not paying their fine? Ever ticketed someone who had to appear and was fined under threat of losing their freedom? You are the direct enforcement arm of this extortion racket. It amounts to kidnapping and extortion nothing more.

Originally posted by grey580
Require every citizen to openly carry a firearm.

Watch the crime rate go down to 0.

Switzerland comes to mind:

In Switzerland, the police registered a total of 527,897 criminal offenses in 2010, including 53 killings and 187 attempted murders.

With a population of just over 7 million, let us compare these figures to New York City:

While crime rates have stopped decreasing for a decade in the rest of the United States, in New York the murder rate for 2009 is at an all time low of 466, more than a 10% decline from the previous year, and the lowest count during the period that crime statistics have been recorded.[17]

Of course, correlation does not always equal causation...
But I always wondered about Archie Bunker...

Originally posted by hawkiye
It is a bit misleading since they are replacing it with county sheriffs. Having said that I am all for disbanding police forces and moving to private protection. Police have just become highway men and collections agents for government extortion rackets.

I don't know Hawkie, in one hand we know how corruption runs rampant on our law enforcement public servants, but no on all of the counties.

Then is not wise to replace local police with mercenaries for hired that given their already shady track record will pretty much turn into collecting briberies and extorting citizens, while running the under grown illegal arms dealing and drug trafficking.

You know private means that private.

Originally posted by hawkiye
Ah listen to the corporate drone who has no clue who or what he works for. Give me the name of your agency and I will prove to you that it is a private for profit corporation and that you actually have no powers of arrest etc. Or you can look it up yourself on Dunn & Bradstreet.

My state constitution empowers citizens to incorperate, forming a government that is separate from the county. It further allows those entities to establish public services, including police departments and municipal courts. My power of arrest comes from the State Constitution, State Law, the municipality I work for, all of which were put into place by the citizens.

Originally posted by hawkiye
Also just LOL

at you saying you have nothing to do with collecting fines imposing them.

I have nothing to do with collecting fines / imposing them. I do not work for the judicial branch.

Originally posted by hawkiye
Gee ever arrested someone with for a warrant for not paying their fine?

I have.. What you are not understanding is we do not collect fines / impose them. When a person has an arrest warrant for fines it comes directly from the court. It means the person in question has already gone in front of the judge / court and was found guilty. It also means the person was given a sentence with conditions on that sentence. Failure to comply with the court sentence can result in an arrest warrant in addition to having the origional ruling enforced.

IE - A person steals something and gets caught. He is cited and or arrested. The PA decides to prosecute the offense and the perosn is found guilty. The judge sentences the person to 1 year of probation with an SES / SIS
attachment of 6 months in jail as well as fines and or community service. If the person, in that year period, violates his probation the origional sentence can be imposed - jail time. Non compliance results in an arrest warrant.

Originally posted by hawkiye
Ever ticketed someone who had to appear and was fined under threat of losing their freedom?

Nope

Originally posted by hawkiye
You are the direct enforcement arm of this extortion racket.

No really I am not.

Originally posted by hawkiye
It amounts to kidnapping and extortion nothing more.

You need to look up and understand the term kidnapping. I find it ironic that you are complaining about government / law enforcement and acting illegally while at the same time suggesting 2 laws be used against those entities that dont apply.

I have no issues with people having a difference of opinion however the person should be knowledgeable / understand how their government works.