Police

• Outsourcing self-defense
  • Freedom, in a legal context, means the right not to be aggressed against. A natural extension of this is the right to defend ourselves against aggressors includes arresting and prosecuting criminals. We can delegate those rights to others and employ them for that purpose. We generally refer to people employed to arrest people for these purposes as ‘police officers’.
  • The police function is a service like any other. Today, there is a government monopoly on police services, but it doesn’t need to be this way. Competition would improve policing, benefiting both employees and customers, as different protection services firms seek to win business by offering the best quality service at the most competitive prices.
• Who hires the police?
  • Anyone can hire police or security professionals. Half the planet’s population lives in a country where privately employed security workers outnumber government-employed ones.
  • If a government were funded voluntarily, instead of via taxes, the government's hiring of police officers would not violate any aspect of the Legal Principle. A governmental entity could select between competing private agencies offering contracts to provide policing services in its geographic area.
• Competition improves the quality of policing
  • Because private corporations will seek to have their contracts renewed, they will strive to satisfy their customers. Other private companies will compete to obtain the contract if they do not.
  • Instead of attempting to reform local police agencies that are not meeting the demands of the local community, imagine a world where any local community could contract with a different private police department that operates more consistently with the community's desires.
• Local community decides
  • Whether a local community opts to form its own police department and employ individuals to act as police officers or to contract with a private corporation to provide policing services should be the sole decision of the people who live in that local community.
  • People can organize their lives and police protection services in any way they choose, as long as they do not violate the 3L Principle. This is true for all services currently provided by government monopolies, including fire protection and infrastructure.