America's private police force

[SteamWake]

This is some strange stuff goin down in Montanna.

Yes its Glenn Beck so go ahead and impune the source

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=10479763&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/index.html

But... here is the originzations offical website.

note the change in the logo and the ... well... Arabian music :o

http://www.americanpolicegroup.com/

[Dowly]

Arabian music :o

That's the first time I've heard someone call Bolero "arabian music". :-? PARANOIA FTW!!! :yeah:

[GoldenRivet]

That's the first time I've heard someone call Bolero "arabian music". :-? PARANOIA FTW!!! :yeah:

I was thinking the same thing.

but it is disturbing - the thought of this secret police business... not bolero.

[FIREWALL]

This is insane !!! :down: The Feds need to step in and shut this down.

You drive around here in a car that says Police Dept on it and your not.

The Sheriff's Dept will drag you out of it under arrest and impound the vehicle.

[Platapus]

note the change in the logo and the ... well... Arabian music :o


Psst. Bolero is Latin. Not Arabian.

But hey, let's not let facts interfere with the entertainment value of your post. :har:

[SteamWake]

All right all right yea its Bolero but for some reason I always associate it with Lawence of Arabia but yea sure I'm just paranoid.

[OneToughHerring]

What could be more American then a private police force? Private, hello? I thought Americans dig all that privatization stuff.

[CastleBravo]

This is insane !!! :down: The Feds need to step in and shut this down.

You drive around here in a car that says Police Dept on it and your not.

The Sheriff's Dept will drag you out of it under arrest and impound the vehicle.

The state should shut it down, NOT the FEDS. I have never believed the Feds should do anything more than protect the national border and deliver the mail. I question their ability to do either.

[FIREWALL]

The state should shut it down, NOT the FEDS. I have never believed the Feds should do anything more than protect the national border and deliver the mail. I question their ability to do either.


Fine whatever. Some REAL legal agency needs to step in fast before this gets carried away.

[Platapus]

This could be more common than you think

http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=288453&category=22101

http://mediafilter.org/CAQ/CAQ54p.police.html

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/02/private_police.html

http://www.alternet.org/story/138180/u.s._cities_increasing_use_of_armed_mercenaries_to _replace_police/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124027127337237011.html

[GoldenRivet]

What could be more American then a private police force? Private, hello? I thought Americans dig all that privatization stuff.

We dig private stuff... unless it is the privatization of a public sector.

road building, military, police force etc.

government is to be held accountable for these things, not some random private individual.

[CastleBravo]

Fine whatever. Some REAL legal agency needs to step in fast before this gets carried away.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091007/ap_on_re_us/us_fea_lifestyles_annoying_words

P.S. The people are the legal authority. That is what liberty is all about.

[FIREWALL]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091007/ap_on_re_us/us_fea_lifestyles_annoying_words

P.S. The people are the legal authority. That is what liberty is all about.

You don't have a clue what this topic is all about do you ? :hmmm:

[Aramike]

You don't have a clue what this topic is all about do you ? :hmmm::haha:

[OneToughHerring]

We dig private stuff... unless it is the privatization of a public sector.

road building, military, police force etc.

government is to be held accountable for these things, not some random private individual.

Yea well, we've been privatizing like hell here in Finland lately, seems like it's all been a big mess. Hasn't been the success that the conservative coalition party of Finland touted it would be.

[CastleBravo]

You don't have a clue what this topic is all about do you ? :hmmm:

Sure I do. The post was directed at you firewall. Say 'whatever'.

[MothBalls]

You don't have a clue what this topic is all about do you ? :hmmm:

Conspiracy theories, paranoia, The Enquirer, tabloid journalism, fear mongering, basic crapola.....

[FIREWALL]

Sure I do. The post was directed at you firewall. Say 'whatever'.

So it was just a cheap shot at me when you didn't have anything to add to the thread huh ? :roll:

[Dowly]

@FW

Are you surprised? :O:

[CastleBravo]

So it was just a cheap shot at me when you didn't have anything to add to the thread huh ? :roll:

It was no more than a response to your attempt to belittle my post.
Are we even now? Press the reset button and all that?

[SteamWake]

Would you mind keeping the personal sniping out of this thread please?

Thanks :salute:

[Aramike]

Yea well, we've been privatizing like hell here in Finland lately, seems like it's all been a big mess. Hasn't been the success that the conservative coalition party of Finland touted it would be.The problem is the benchmarks for both government and private companies.

In government, the result usually doesn't matter if you can spin it to make it seem positive.

In private companies, results don't usually matter if you can profit from it.

That's why I agree with privatization, mostly - and government regulation, in the cases that most directly affect the public business. Let the private companies use their approach to dollars and cents efficiency, while the government assures quality.

[Tribesman]

note the change in the logo and the ... well... Arabian music
Must increase holdings in companies selling tin foil.

[SteamWake]

In a loosely related story...

Police stop more than 1 million people on street

Police in major U.S. cities stop and question more than a million people each year - a sharply higher number than just a few years ago. Most are black and Hispanic men. Many are frisked, and nearly all are innocent of any crime, according to figures gathered by The Associated Press.


http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091008/D9B75TA02.html

[Dowly]

US police also tends to shoot their own K9's, after they've been ordered to attack the suspect by an drunk off-duty officer via phone. :O:

[AngusJS]

That's the first time I've heard someone call Bolero "arabian music". :-? PARANOIA FTW!!! :yeah:Oh come on, it's a well known fact that Ravel had close ties to Al-Qaeda.

[AngusJS]

note the change in the logoYeah, it's gone from the Serbian coat of arms to the Russian one, except the globus crucibus and St. George slaying the dragon, two Christian symbols, have been removed.

Russia has long been a supporter of Serbia, the latest instance of which was during the Yugoslavian war, when Milosevic, the leader of the SOCIALIST Party of Serbia, was president. The prime minister of Russia is Putin, a "former" GODLESS COMMUNIST.

Put it together. SOCIALISTS, COMMUNISTS, and ATHEISM, all on a web page for a private security company. They're obviously preparing for the godless Obamaian police state that's just around the corner. I can't believe Beck missed this!

That, or they were too cheap to make a logo of their own, so they just searched the internet for something that looked cool.

But seriously, wasn't privatization supposed to be a good thing? Isn't this the free hand of the market providing the product of security to consumer-citizens?

[Shearwater]

The problem is the benchmarks for both government and private companies.

In government, the result usually doesn't matter if you can spin it to make it seem positive.

In private companies, results don't usually matter if you can profit from it.

That's why I agree with privatization, mostly - and government regulation, in the cases that most directly affect the public business. Let the private companies use their approach to dollars and cents efficiency, while the government assures quality.

I disagree.
State-owned business exists to do things that are necessary, but do not pay off financially. Thus, the first thing they have to do is to provide certain goods or services for which they, in a manner of speaking, receive state-funded compensation. Now I'm well aware that a lot can (or rather could) be improved (speaking as someone who regularly works in a company that was privatized not so long ago and still has its traces of stately slothfulness). In any case, they are to be considered effective if they can manage to do the things they are supposed while keeping expenses at a minimum.
Private business on the other hand is there to make money, and to that end everything else is secondary. People don't sell cars or pork bellies because they believe that doing so is inherently good, but because they simply want to make money. In order to do that, business has to be effective in a capitalist sense, which means maximizing profits (obvious of course, so I hope I don't sound too lecturing :DL).
Anyway, that's the way I see it.
That said, I simply cannot understand how on Earth a private police force could possibly work - I mean: How do they make money? Charging fees for every crime they prevent? If it's just about governmental outsourcing, it is still worse, not least because it introduces yet another layer of administration.

[OneToughHerring]

That said, I simply cannot understand how on Earth a private police force could possibly work - I mean: How do they make money? Charging fees for every crime they prevent? If it's just about governmental outsourcing, it is still worse, not least because it introduces yet another layer of administration.

How does Blackwater or Triple Canopy make money? The way I see it a police force would be much less risky of an endeavour and might be a much more lucrative in the long run. It's about claiming territory from the public sector and when that territory has been once claimed by the private sector it will be very difficult if not impossible for the public sector to get it back.

[Shearwater]

How does Blackwater or Triple Canopy make money? The way I see it a police force would be much less risky of an endeavour and might be a much more lucrative in the long run. It's about claiming territory from the public sector and when that territory has been once claimed by the private sector it will be very difficult if not impossible for the public sector to get it back.

Companies such as Blackwater operate in foreign territory, so even if they can't be controlled as tightly as the regular military, they're abroad at least. In the case of a private police force operating in the interior, there would be no such safeguard.
The state's monopoly on violence has been at the end of a lenghty political and philosophical struggle. More than money or 'efficiency' is at stake here.

[OneToughHerring]

Companies such as Blackwater operate in foreign territory, so even if they can't be controlled as tightly as the regular military, they're abroad at least. In the case of a private police force operating in the interior, there would be no such safeguard.
The state's monopoly on violence has been at the end of a lenghty political and philosophical struggle. More than money or 'efficiency' is at stake here.

I don't necessarily disagree with you about that but we're talking about the United States here, I'm just thinking which way they might go based on past experience. Wouldn't want to have a private police in Finland although private security firms are constantly getting a bigger foothold here as well.

[Jimbuna]

Oh come on, it's a well known fact that Ravel had close ties to Al-Qaeda.

To us Brits.....these two made it more noteable than Ravel :O:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2zbbN4OL98

[OneToughHerring]

From that "private police" homepage.

http://www.americanpolicegroup.com/images/index_image.png

Compare to:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Coat_of_Arms_of_the_Russian_Federation.svg/200px-Coat_of_Arms_of_the_Russian_Federation.svg.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Russia

Coincidence? I think not! :)

Edit. Makes the whole "American"-part kinda funny.

[SS107.9MHz]

We dig private stuff... unless it is the privatization of a public sector.

road building, military, police force etc.

government is to be held accountable for these things, not some random private individual.

Healthcare?! LOL