I'm figuring Fo is going to love this.

Quote:Sometimes the fence eats the crop, so it would be wise to beat the fence.

Sharpstown in Texas fired its entire police department in 2012, after which it experienced a remarkable drop in crime----by 61%.

This community of 66,000, southwest of Houston, refused to renew its contract with the constable's office and just dismissed the police, according to sputnik. Instead, the Sharpstown Civic Association took SEAL Security Solutions, a private firm, on hire, to look after their streets.

"Since we've been in there, an independent crime study that they've had done [indicates] we've reduced the crime by 61% in just 20 months," James Alexander, Director of Operations for SEAL, told guns.com

Supporters of SEAL are clear that government cops are not as trustworthy as private ones, because they are part of the state, and are slow to change. They are not driven by "efficiency" or "threats from liability," as they are both redundant when a tax farm can replenish the funds, according to freethoughtproject.

The strategy of SEAL is simple. Its officers are on continuous patrol all over the city, which is opposed to the sporadic presence of the constables.

"On a constable patrol contract, it's either a 70/30 or an 80/20," Alexander said. "Meaning they say they patrol your community 70 percent of the time, [while] 30 percent of the time they use for running calls out of your area or writing reports."

Moreover, SEAL depends on crime statistics when it designs its patrolling. "The second thing that drastically reduces the crime is that we do directed patrols, meaning we don't just put an officer out there and say 'here, go patrol,'" he said. "We look at recent crime stats, and we work off of those crime stats. So if we have hotspots in those areas say for that month, we focus and concentrate our efforts around those hotspots."

In a comparative assessment of conventional as well as the SEAL model, Alexander said that "Law enforcement officers are trained to be reactive. They're out there to run calls, they're running one call to another, so they're reacting to something that's already happened. Private security, the way that we train our guys, is more proactive, meaning that we're in the community proactively patrolling to prevent those crimes."

There is another advantage that Sharpstown has reaped---money. It is saving $200,000 annually over the previous contract, and they have increased the number of patrol officers for less funds.

Till today, over 70 communities in Harris County, where Sharpstown is located, have contracts with SEAL, according to guns.com.

http://www.newseveryday.com/articles/101...police.htm

That's a great idea, my only question would be the legal side of capturing a robber rapist attempted murderer, etc.

I think the article is slightly misleading. It appears as though the area fired whatever police dept it originally had, but is still patrolled by Houston Police. SEAL looks to be doing neighborhood watch functions.

I think this will be an interesting situation to watch.

Outstanding.

The real story

http://www.khou.com/story/news/local/201.../24338341/

Quote:Crime is dropping in the Sharpstown area of Houston. Neighborhood leaders credit more active neighbors who often alert a partnership of private security and police to potential crimes before they happen.

"I love it here," said Janet McGlimery standing on the front lawn of the Sharpstown home where she's lived for 50 years. Lately the folks next door have been looking out more than ever.

"Everybody keeps an eye out for everybody else," said McGlimery.

Quote: For a third less of the cost, the SEAL guards now run targeted patrols based on HPD data. A dedicated crime analyst, who works for the civic association, runs the data every day.

"These are three little mini patrol areas," said Bigham, pointing to targeted areas on a map.

They found burglary was the biggest problem in the subdivision, but those stats are falling. They dropped from 304 burglaries in 2013 to 177 last year, shrinking faster as private patrols ramped up.

Police are still actively involved in the neighborhood too. Neighbors call SEAL for immediate response, then HPD comes to investigate. A combination of people, police and private security, neighbors say, means a new day in Sharpstown.

Quote:Sharpstown is a big area and there are still crime concerns in nearby shopping centers, and surrounding apartment complexes. But folks in the Sharpstown subdivision say that's no different than many other commercial areas and that doesn't affect their safety at home.

Evidently what this subdivision within a community, not a town, had before was a contract with the Harris County Constables for additional services beyond what Houston PD was already providing. In 2012 they allowed the contract to lapse and hired a private security firm to patrol the subdivision. Houston PD is still the responsible agency and handles investigations, arrests, etc. They also provide data to SEAL in order for them to do targeted patrols.

Guess that answers my question about legality.