San Francisco's Private Police
The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) doesn't seem to like the San Francisco Patrol Special Police (PSP), a collection of independent security firms that has been making the city safer since the Gold Rush. The public agency, which regulates its private counterpart, has delayed the processing of PSP employment applications, sometimes for years. Worse, businesses have reported threats of decreased protection from the SFPD if they were to hire the PSP.
Nevertheless, members of the police union have found that the PSP has indirectly created a lucrative opportunity for them. Under the 10(b) program, whenever the SFPD convinces a PSP client to hire an officer of the SFPD instead of someone from the PSP, the officer can make big money at taxpayer expense. Assuming the officer were earning his regular maximum and worked two extra hours per week on 10(b) assignments, he would earn an extra $9,048 per year and see his pension increase $8,143 per year! (Hourly rates billed by SFPD under the 10(b) program are nearly double the rates of the PSP, according to a former president of the police commission.)
Independent Institute Research Fellow Edward Stringham examines these and other aspects of the relationship between the SFPD and the PSP in his new working paper, "Private Policing in San Francisco." Stringham recommends three reforms: (1) an audit of the 10(b) program, (2) the elimination of restrictions that limit competition with the SFPD, and (3) an end to the SFPD's lengthy delays in the processing of PSP employment applications. Stringham concludes: "The PSP should be supported, encouraged, and assisted in publicizing their policing force as a viable safety option that can be relied on now and in the future to make San Francisco a safer and more desirable place to work."
Press Release<http://www.independent.org/newsroom/news_detail.asp?newsID=139>
"Private Policing in San Francisco,"<http://www.independent.org/publications/working_papers/article.asp?id=2672> by Edward Stringham (Independent Institute Working Paper, 12/21/09)
"Guardians of the Peace?"<http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=2686> by Jonathan Wyse (12/17/09)
Anarchy and the Law: The Political Economy of Choice<http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=67>, edited by Edward Stringham
To Serve and Protect: Privatization and Community in Criminal Justice<http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=21>, by Bruce Benson