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I would like to see the police in every town, county and state privatized. The government run police departments are incompetent and way too expensive. If the police were privatized, the cost for police would be reduced drastically and the results of police work would be vastly improved.

Sort of like the difference between Federal Express and the post office, but without the post office.

I passed this on to one of my brothers who spent 30 years in law enforcement before retiring, and he raised three red flags and couldn't believe that the people in Montana of all places would go for something like this.

The first problem he brought up is that they will try to get their labor, the police officers, as cheaply as possible, while trying to charge Hardin as much as possible. That means lower quality law enforcement. Anybody who has been around PMCs has seen their fair share of low-quality hires. Reading up on the background, what little there is, of this 'American Police Force' company and looking at their website, they look pretty low-rent. We've seen this time and again with private jail and prison facilities in the US as well.

The second and even bigger problem is that they are not sworn in to protect and serve the citizens of Hardin, Montana. They are paid to generate revenue for their bosses in California. The more revenue they generate the happier their bosses are and the more they get paid. That means more arrests (should they truly take over policing of Hardin) and more people in the prison/jail facility. That means they will go after as many arrests/fines as they can, no matter how ridiculous or illogical it maybe in many cases. Why shouldn't they? Their bosses in California don't have to take the heat that a small-town sheriff or police chief would normally take.

Then there is the issue of accountability which ties directly into point #2, and this bothers my brother (and myself) as much or more than the first two. Take my son for instance. He's in in the Marines in Afghanistan. My brother's son just got back from Iraq. If a soldier or Marine harms an innocent civilian there, he can be in a world of trouble and could possibly even do jailtime and be dishonorably discharged. If he was a private contractor, he's not going to do any jailtime if he hurts an innocent civilian. He might be booted out of Afghanistan or Iraq, his contracting company might have to pay a fine, but that's about it. People act different when their company is held accountable rather than them being the ones in trouble.

Thank you for your very thoughtful reply. I don't have a lot of time this morning to address all the issues you raised, but I would like to elaborate on my ideas.

My idea of privatizing police forces is based on letting free market principles operate. Every five years or so, the contract for police services would be put up for bid and the citizens of the community would vote to select the contractor that would provide police services for the next five years. That process would result in much more accountability and would certainly lead to lower costs.

Right now police have very little accountability to citizens. Accountability is political. As a result, we are spending way too much on police services and quality is lower than it should be.

I've been a benefits and compensation consultant to quite a few cities regarding police and fire compensation. The total compensation package provided to police and fire employees in large cities is much, much greater than private industry would provide, and that's because no one is looking out for the tax payers -- i.e., a lack of accountability. A free market, privatized approach to almost all governmental services (including police) would introduce the concept of a bottom line and real accountability.

My best friend is a lieutenant on the police force of a large Chicago suburb that like most such cities is having financial difficulty. However, my friend's total compensation package is outrageous in comparison to what he would be paid in private industry, and there is very little his city can do about it. Put police services up for bid every five years and the market would take care of the problems.