
Oakland Neighbors Crowdfunding Private Security - vellum
http://techpresident.com/news/24395/oakland-neighbors-crowdfund-private-security
======
was_hellbanned
>....with the aim of compensating for an understaffed police department...

When I left Oakland in 2009, I was throwing away one of the free, local papers
when something caught my eye. It was a short article stating that the Oakland
PD truancy rate was, I believe, 37%. So, a significant portion of Oakland PD
don't show up for their shifts. Perhaps there is a legitimate reason for this.
Unfortunately, every time I try to dig up this statistic, I just get results
regarding student truancy efforts by Oakland PD.

Also, in 2008, Oakland PD blew $15,000 on, I believe, Screamin' Eagle exhausts
for their police Harleys. After complaints of hearing loss, they took the
pipes back off, then spent $1,200 on a 'study' to test whether they increased
safety (they didn't), caused hearing damage (they do), and complied with noise
standards (they blatantly violate Federal noise laws, and OPD doesn't care).
The article I'm looking at is unclear as to whether or not the $15k was in
addition to the initial cost of $500 per bike, from before the hearing
complaints, removal, study, and re-installation.

I miss a lot of things about Oakland, but Oakland PD's antics are not among
them. I don't blame people one bit for wanting private security.

~~~
ballard
It sounds absolutely ridiculous to pay someone else to do what the police are
getting paid to ostensibly do. It also further divides a community between
protected and unprotected.

Perhaps someone that knows more about OPD could chime in:

0\. Can't slackers be fired?

1\. Is there a recruitment problem that constrains 0.?

2\. Is leadership failing to motivate and/or inspire morale?

3\. How many OPD regular officers live in Oakland? (I would wager it's very
high or very low.)

Postscript: I love Oakland, both its gems and its warts. It's hard to find
good music in the Bay Area, especially live blues.

~~~
krakensden
I don't know the specifics of shift truancy, it's possible that management is
making impossible demands- but OPD has a plummeting budget to work with, and
has been flunking out of federal receivership for years. Leadership regularly
gets booted for that offense.

Probably ~90% live outside the city:
[http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/the-high-costs-of-
outs...](http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/the-high-costs-of-outsourcing-
policeandnbsp/Content?oid=3306199)

Detroit passed a fatwa requiring police to live within the city a while back,
I'm not sure it solved anything.

------
nikcub
A modern spin on something that has been happening in less developed and some
developed nations for a long time. While I lived in Cape Town, South Africa
part of my office lease went towards private security guards, and at one
apartment I rented part of that rent went towards private security as well.

It was very common throughout the city and other regions to find co-ops form
around businesses, farmers, home owners, etc. who would pool their money
together and hire a private security force.

At our second office, it was the entire main street of shopholders with some
of the offices chipping in to hire a dozen fulltime security guards to patrol
the street, check cars, etc.

It worked reasonably well. You get to know the guards really well, they get to
know the area well, and they were much more effective in responding to
incidents than the police or other local authorities (in an earlier incident a
man was once stabbed right infront of me, I called the ambulance and waited
with him for an hour, he died and his body was eventually picked up later that
night).

There were also times it failed. In one incident the guards caught three
people trying to jump a fence, they used a disabled toilet in one of the
stores as a makeshift prison cell and beat the three 'suspects' up and kept
them in there for 24 hours. I can't describe how much blood there was on the
floor and walls, but the three were eventually released (I was told they 'have
to' do this so that other potential thieves go elsewhere, and that the police
wouldn't do anything)

At first I was uneasy with the thought of having private security, but because
of the failing of government to provide basic safety I ended up only every
moving to areas that had a similar setup.

Residents resorting to self-funded policing is a sign that something is very,
very wrong with government administration. I never thought i'd see this play
out in a major American city.

~~~
smtddr
_> > There were also times it failed. In one incident the guards caught three
people trying to jump a fence, they used a disabled toilet in one of the
stores as a makeshift prison cell and beat the three 'suspects' up and kept
them in there for 24 hours. I can't describe how much blood there was on the
floor and walls, but the three were eventually released (I was told they 'have
to' do this so that other potential thieves go elsewhere, and that the police
wouldn't do anything)_

I hope this doesn't make me sound like a cruel person. I realize sensitivity
to this kind of stuff is different depending where you are in the world. But,
why do you consider this a failure? I understand it isn't as "civilized,
humanitarian, feel-good" as the western-world's perceived standards, but this
is absolutely how it's done in areas without reliable police enforcement.
Until a stable & reliable law-enforcement can be set up, I honestly believe
significant beatings for would-be thieves is the best deterrent for crime.
Especially for 3rd-world countries; less things truly fall into complete
chaos.

~~~
sneak
> I understand it isn't as "civilized, humanitarian, feel-good" as the
> western-world's perceived standards

Also, you're using weasel words. They're not "perceived standards", it's
simply uncivilized, animalistic behavior.

It is unacceptable, regardless of circumstance.

~~~
shiven
_It is unacceptable, regardless of circumstance._

Weasely hogwash from someone who clearly has no idea of ground reality.

Otherwise, I agree with your highfalutin talk, um-hmm.

------
e12e
This really reminds me of Virtual Light:

"But Rydell was always glad to have him on shift, because he was as
determinedly nonviolent a rentacop as you were likely to find. And he probably
wasn't even crazy. Both of which were definite pluses for Rydell. As Hernandez
was fond of pointing out, SoCal had stricter regulations for who could or
couldn't be a hairdresser. Like Rydell, a lot of IntenSecure's response people
were former police officers of some kind, some were even ex-LAPD, and if the
company's rules about not carrying personal weapons on duty were any
indication, his co-workers were expected to turn up packing all manner of
hardware. There were metal detectors on the staff-room doors and Hernandez
usually had a drawer full of push-daggers, nunchuks, stunguns, knucks, boot-
knives, and whatever else the detectors had picked up. Like Friday morning at
a South Miami high school."

    
    
      -- Virtual Light, Willam Gibson, 1993
    

It's sometimes hard to tell if Gibson's fiction is moving closer to reality
with each series, or if the progress of time takes reality closer to his
fiction...

------
protomyth
Considering parts of Oregon have had to go back to private citizens doing
patrols due to budget cuts, I can see where private police forces or citizen
patrols will probably happen more and more.

It should be noted that standing police forces are a relatively new concept.
Rome had one at the end, but that was became quite corrupt.

------
simbolit
i am terribly afraid that if this "works", they created a great incentive for
the city council / government (whoever is responsible in your jurisdiction) to
cut corners at the PD.

s/ libertarian dystopia here we come /s

~~~
scarmig
Oakland has already cut so many corners at the PD that it approximates a
circle...

------
tlrobinson
Federal government shutdown. Oakland residents crowdfunding private security.
Libertarian dreams coming true.

Well, minus the Silk Road raid.

~~~
aric
Classical liberals/libertarians, voluntaryists, minarchists, and anarchists
don't ultimately _want_ underground markets. It's actually closer to a living
nightmare to them. People who want 'real' liberation want freedom: not having
to hide and not being victimized for consensual interaction. That is the
freedom of choice and ability to choose _openness_. In other words,
underground markets don't exemplify more liberal-libertarian models of
governance. Underground markets more so reflect liberal-libertarian people
attempting to coalesce under extreme duress. This holds true for other issues
in parallel.

------
frank_boyd
> [...] crowdfund private security services, with the aim of _compensating for
> an understaffed police department_ in the city with the highest robbery rate
> in America.

Why?!

Why should security become the responsibility of private people? That's pretty
sick.

You are _paying taxes_ to receive this service. But your "representatives"
prefer to provide "security" to everybody but their own citizens, it seems:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures)

The solution is to protest and vote!

~~~
noarchy
>The solution is to protest and vote!

I suspect that they may have looked into that solution, and found it wanting.
Hiring their own security gives them far more control. They know where their
money is going, and they can adjust things, as needed.

This doesn't end the problem of continuing to be taxed, of course. That's a
much harder nut to crack.

------
bdamm
Bring on the franchises.

------
PhasmaFelis
> _“We shouldn’t have to do this,” says Steven Kirsh, who is running the last
> of the three Rockridge campaigns, “but we need to do this.” He doesn’t see
> the Oakland Police Department suddenly getting more resources, so in order
> to protect his belongings, family and property value, the $82 per household
> doesn’t seem like much to ask, for 12 hours of patrolling five days a week.
> For a four month trial it will work out to less than a dollar a day._

What do you wanna bet this guy would scream to high heaven if the city wanted
to tax him an extra $82 a year to fund more patrolmen?

~~~
jmspring
Knowing someone in Oakland that is part of a community considering private
patrols, they'd rather not be paying for their own security. That said,
Oakland like many municipalities granted the moon for pensions during the boom
times without considering the busts. This, coupled with the pensions of higher
ups, is putting a serious hurt on dollars available to boots on the ground.

Yes, people at some point might have griped about "an extra $82" in taxes, but
they are way beyond that point now. OPD isn't patrolling the hills, property
crimes are rarely followed up on, etc.

Snark all you want, but there are people with families living there that are
at their wits end.

~~~
yapcguy
Have they ever thought about leaving Oakland? I know it's not easy to just
move, especially with family and job commitments, but I wonder if the people
you know have ever mentioned what the breaking point would be.

~~~
tempestn
If they can solve their problem for less than $1 per day, they're probably a
ways from the pack-up-and-move point. (Of course the effectiveness of this
private security remains to be seen.)

