Police privatisation (insurance, violent crime, cinema)

[dunno what to put here]

I usually try and look at both sides of arguments, for example, with the NHS reforms, but this really annoyed me.

Revealed: government plans for police privatisation | UK news | The Guardian

The UK will always be my home, but things like this really p..s me off and make me lose all hope - stupid morons

[dragonborn]

Originally Posted by dunno what to put here

I usually try and look at both sides of arguments, for example, with the NHS reforms, but this really annoyed me.

Revealed: government plans for police privatisation | UK news | The Guardian

The UK will always be my home, but things like this really p..s me off and make me lose all hope - stupid morons

Frightening mate. Is the UK trying to outdo the US on the privatisation front? This has so many potentially disturbing possibilities that it's not even funny. Why don't people realise that some things should not be done to make a profit? It's a very slippery slope.

[BrianH]

I can understand the privatisation of prisons and stuff, but the Police force ?

[theunbrainwashed]

Like privatizing prisons in the US worked so well. It costs more to run private prisons and it resulted in having the highest incarceration rate in the world

[Jezer]

I don't get hung up on who provides services providing they are to a set standard and offer the taxpayer proper value for money.

Front line policing seems to be an excessive step in that direction, but watching the plethora of fly on the wall TV programmes about police spending much time chasing people who have not got car tax or insurance, I wonder if this is an area that could be reviewed.

The situation we often get is that some new law or other is passed without thought being given as to how the policing of it is to be achieved, and our police forces are overwhelmed with having to take on extra roles with limited budgets.

Two areas that must give police the biggest headaches are drug related crime, and having to sort out alcohol related incidents literally at all times of the day and night due to the bright idea of allowing 24 hour drinking.

[Mag3.14]

This is nuts. I remember Theresa May when she was the MP for Maidenhead - a town of maybe 80,000 people (guess?), but a wealthy town with one of the worst town centre's in the UK, and high rates of crime (including violent crime). I was on the end of some of her hair brained ideas none of which did any good, all of which cut council costs.

I've said it before, but the conservative party have not moved on from the same old ideas they had in the 70's - that private markets and businesses do better than government. That is it. What will happen is that private police forces or teams will become a military style operation. They would of course be hired and measured on statistics - not on crime prevention. You could expect higher arrest rates, more complaints of brutality and even worse.

When people are publicly funded they are accountable to the public (sort of). Private enterprises are nearly always profit maximising, and given this governments anti-regulation ideology, its not exactly a recipe for success!

[theunbrainwashed]

Originally Posted by ian6479

This is nuts. I remember Theresa May when she was the MP for Maidenhead - a town of maybe 80,000 people (guess?), but a wealthy town with one of the worst town centre's in the UK, and high rates of crime (including violent crime). I was on the end of some of her hair brained ideas none of which did any good, all of which cut council costs.

I've said it before, but the conservative party have not moved on from the same old ideas they had in the 70's - that private markets and businesses do better than government. That is it. What will happen is that private police forces or teams will become a military style operation. They would of course be hired and measured on statistics - not on crime prevention. You could expect higher arrest rates, more complaints of brutality and even worse.

When people are publicly funded they are accountable to the public (sort of). Private enterprises are nearly always profit maximising, and given this governments anti-regulation ideology, its not exactly a recipe for success!

I don't agree with your assertion that the market does not do better than government, but in this particular case, a private police force doesn't seem to be the brightest idea. Like I said in my previous post, we tried privatized prisons in the US and it resulted in the highest incarceration rate in the world, and corrupt judges and cops. What the UK really needs is to stop persecuting people who choose to defend themselves from criminals.

Off topic, but I agree that Maidenhead is basically a slightly better version of Slough. The high street didn't seem impressive, and Odeon is ridiculously overpriced. Rather go to Empire Cinemas

[Mag3.14]

Originally Posted by theunbrainwashed

I don't agree with your assertion that the market does not do better than government, but in this particular case, a private police force doesn't seem to be the brightest idea. Like I said in my previous post, we tried privatized prisons in the US and it resulted in the highest incarceration rate in the world, and corrupt judges and cops. What the UK really needs is to stop persecuting people who choose to defend themselves from criminals.

Off topic, but I agree that Maidenhead is basically a slightly better version of Slough. The high street didn't seem impressive, and Odeon is ridiculously overpriced. Rather go to Empire Cinemas

I'm not saying the market doesn't operate more efficiently than government - but that the conservative ideology is that it is the ONLY option. I believe that governments have an important role to play in society and can do a lot of things that corporations can't.

Privatized prisons in the US highlight my point, but the incarceration rate has nothing to do with prisons and everything to do with parts of America's crazy legal system. Just think of how many people are in prison for smoking pot!!

[LondonAreaWeatherSummary]

1) its not 'privatization'. Its an internal market. If it was privatization it would be funded by insurance premiums, not govt collected taxation.

2) Change is good. Its not on a nationwide scale. Its on a local scale. If it fails, we at least know not to roll it out nationally. It it works, good.

Personally, i've an open mind. I don't think the practice of internal markets has been particularly good in the UK in healthcare, because it commonly becomes occupied by cartels, but given that current policing is less than perfect, i think its good theyre willing to experiment with other ideas, so long as its on a local scale so results can be compared to unreformed authorities.

[theunbrainwashed]

Originally Posted by LondonAreaWeatherSummary

1) its not 'privatization'. Its an internal market. If it was privatization it would be funded by insurance premiums, not govt collected taxation.

2) Change is good. Its not on a nationwide scale. Its on a local scale. If it fails, we at least know not to roll it out nationally. It it works, good.

Personally, i've an open mind. I don't think the practice of internal markets has been particularly good in the UK in healthcare, because it commonly becomes occupied by cartels, but given that current policing is less than perfect, i think its good theyre willing to experiment with other ideas, so long as its on a local scale so results can be compared to unreformed authorities.

I think what the UK really needs is protection for victims of crime. Too often I hear of innocent victims of burglars being done in by the courts because they fended off the burglar, or the burglar got injured while trying to break and enter. The British politicians needs to wake up and realize that the police cannot be everywhere 24/7 and be everyone's personal bodyguard.