[BlueTrain]

It isn't really all that uncommon around here for policemen to moonlight as security, usually at indoor events like rock concerts. In theory, it isn't a bad idea, compared with employing someone who isn't a policeman in real life, so to speak. But there is another issue I see with the police, which has nothing to do with private security guards.

At least where I live, there are numerous police agencies, all apparently charged with some particular aspect of law enforcement. No doubt it causes few problems because everyone understands their own boundaries but it just doesn't seem necessary for there to be as many as there are. However, I am thinking region-wide and that's not fair to government that doesn't go beyond its own borders. And then there's the Federal government, which in D.C., hosts about a half-dozen agencies.

The sort of private security guards I was bad mouthing in my previous post were more common in the 19th century and tended to operate under the term "detectives," but they were in truth usually hired guns. Governments were generally weaker then, so big corporations sometimes threw their weight around. Sounds like it's either going to be the corporations telling the government what to do or the government telling the corporations what to do, doesn't it? Either way, ordinary people get the short end of the deal. These days, however, I suppose you would count the nice folks who operate armored trucks as private security and I can't imagine their being any alternative to their services, and I doubt if many policemen moonlight doing that kind of work.