on privatized police

In his book Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson writes about a world in which the territory of the former United States of America is run by [!!!spoiler alert!!!] multinational corporations that have their own armies and police forces. The federal government owns only a few parcels of land, their main hub being a property near the 405 freeway in Westwood, California.

Are we as a nation heading in that very direction? Does the rise of private contractor armies in the wake of America’s (illegal and disastrous) misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan bode well for the Ynki experiment? With plans to federalize the current police forces already nearing completion, is it a far grasp to imagine that after federalization these pillars of putatively civilized society might be privatized? Other elements of the once publically-owned criminal injustice system such as prisons, bail bonding, and parole services are already in private hands. Why not privatize those bodies that are currently doing a piss-poor job of protecting and upholding the parameters of the U.S. Constitution? American police today are not beholden to the opinions or rights of the citizens they were designed to protect; they work by rules of their own design, granting themselves the power to kill and imprison without fear of retribution or, failing that, even hints of criticism.

Perhaps if the police forces were privatized, their shareholders would be able to force them into abiding by the guidelines of due process, restraint, and respect for life that were long ago codified in the U.S. Constitution. Should a citizen be treated unfairly by a privatized police force, he could convince his neighbors to divest from that force’s stock portfolio or attend a shareholder meeting to voice his concerns. Today, however, anyone who dares to speak out against police brutality and intimidation - in a borough or community meeting, for example - will be ostracized and labelled as a pariah. Likely, his efforts will be met with further retribution, additional intimidation, stalking, veiled threats, loss of liberty, targeted ticketing, and more. The privatization of America’s police forces is all but inevitable; if done correctly, it might just serve the People well; if done incorrectly, however, it will bring this nation’s already wobbly house of cards crashing down. Sic semper tyrannis.

JPR / whorphan / americanifesto / 場黑麥