As Budget Cutbacks Reduce Police Forces, Police Consider 'Billing' for Public Security and Allowing Corporations to Hire Police for Private Security

Economic Collapse Leading to Privatized Police and Corporate Mercenaries

September 22, 2010

Activist Post - Pastor Terry Jones was recently sent a security bill of $180,000 by the local authorities for his “burn the Koran” uproar. Pastor Jones is clearly another religious hack pushing hatred and division instead of love and peace, but he is still an American citizen with the right to protest and burn whatever book he wishes. His stunt was divisive and an obvious attempt to stir the pot, but for the police to charge a tax-paying citizen for securing an event that never happened is just, well, mind-boggling.

Sure some people who may be disturbed by Jones’ prejudice and hate will say, “Right on, the public shouldn’t have to pay for protecting that idiot.” Much like they did when the Balloon Boy’s father was charged restitution for the turmoil he caused. Ultimately, both turned out to be fabricated non-events driven by ridiculous levels of media hype. If the public seeks compensation, it seems more appropriate to target the mainstream media’s advertising sales during their 24-hour media glorification of these non-events.

Charging private citizens seems to be a growing trend by public police forces, apparently to cover their budget shortfalls. Anchorage police have begun sending bills to people if officers have to make more than eight trips per year to their homes. In the UK, police sent a man a bill when their car was damaged pursuing the victim’s stolen vehicle. These are extreme cases, but the precedents threaten to turn the police into a “private” security force.

Consequently, as police and sheriff departments face more cutbacks, they are also increasingly telling citizens (and criminals) what types of crimes they’ll respond to. In a recent article titled Third World America, Macleans reported:

In February, the board of commissioners of Ohio’s Ashtabula County faced a scene familiar to local governments across America: a budget shortfall. They began to cut spending and reduced the sheriff’s budget by 20 per cent. A law enforcement agency staff that only a few years ago numbered 112, and had subsequently been pared down to 70, was cut again to 49 people and just one squad car for a county of 1,900 sq. km along the shore of Lake Erie.

The sheriff’s department adapted. “We have no patrol units. There is no one on the streets. We respond to only crimes in progress. We don’t respond to property crimes,” deputy sheriff Ron Fenton told Maclean’s. The county once had a “very proactive” detective division in narcotics. Now, there is no detective division.

“We are down to one evidence officer and he just runs the evidence room in case someone wants to claim property,” said Fenton. “People are getting property stolen, their houses broken into, and there is no one investigating. We are basically just writing up a report for the insurance company.”

Coincidentally, governments are being forced into more cutbacks, just as police units are introducing the idea of charging victims for their security services. In other words, as local and state economies worsen by design, we can expect to see more cutbacks and more “billing” for public security. Some experts have predicted "IMF riots" to take place in America if the economic collapse continues.

We know that big corporations like Monsanto and Disney can afford private mercenaries such as Blackwater — fully equipped for high-level espionage, with a full-blown private air force, and even tactical weapons. But who will protect average American citizens against such corporate-government thuggery, let alone desperate petty thieves, if not the local public servants?

As America continues to implode, it appears that security will go to the highest bidder, leaving average citizens to fend for themselves. Perhaps we should have seen it coming with the start of the privatization boom of security and intelligence gathering since the War on Terror was declared, which resulted in a massive “Top Secret” Surveillance-Industrial Complex.

The ramifications of this privatization are only now becoming clear, as it was reported that an Israeli-owned organization was in charge of tracking, tracing, and databasing peaceful American activists on behalf of the oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania. It’s already obvious that property taxes are no longer sufficient to pay the security bills.

Paul Craig Roberts warned in his article “The Year America Dissolved” that local security will likely be controlled by warlord clans after the collapse. First, it seems be taking the form of local mafia gangs collecting “protection” money from businesses, churches, and citizens. Perhaps it is time we listen to Ohio Judge Alfred Mackey who, after deep cuts to the local sheriff’s department, advised citizens to carry guns for protection.

25 Sue City, Police Over G-20 arrests

September 22, 2010

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Some of the more than 100 people arrested during Oakland demonstrations a year ago this week say police pepper-sprayed them for no reason, denied them medical treatment and sexually harassed them.

"When I was getting frisked on the lawn, an officer told me I was going to be his girlfriend," said Casey Brander, now a senior at Carnegie Mellon University. She claims she spent 20 hours under arrest following protests against the Group of 20 economic summit, part of the time in a dark room in the Allegheny County Jail where she didn't know the time of day.

"Officers were calling us 'hot' and calling us derogatory names," she said Tuesday. "It was just a really draining experience. I was pretty traumatized by it."

Twenty-five of those arrested, from college students to a photographer, sued the city, its police department and police officers in federal court yesterday, saying they were unfairly arrested and their civil rights violated.

Witold "Vic" Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, said during a news conference in Schenley Plaza that "we recoil in horror" when watching footage of mass arrests at peaceful demonstrations in Russia and Iran.

"It does happen in this country," Walczak said. "It happened right here in the city of Pittsburgh."

Police spokeswoman Diane Richard referred questions to the city Law Department. City solicitor Dan Regan said the city "will answer the allegations through our attorneys and our pleadings, and the city is prepared to defend itself against any baseless or frivolous claims."

Pittsburgh joins cities that have had to defend themselves against lawsuits claiming police misconduct at demonstrations, including Seattle, Philadelphia and Washington. Many cities paid settlements in the millions of dollars.

The lawsuit claims the arrests were made during peaceful demonstrations, separate from violent G-20 protests in which police scuffled with people who broke windows and turned over Dumpsters.

Hours after the summit ended Sept. 25, hundreds of people gathered for a concert and demonstration in Schenley Plaza. The lawsuit contends that police herded more than 100 people from the plaza and the surrounding area onto the lawn at the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning, ordered them to the ground and cuffed them. Walczak said many tried to leave after police gave the order to disperse about 10:30 p.m., but police blocked their path.

Two plaintiffs said officers arrested them a half-mile from the plaza, while several others said they were charged with failure to disperse even though they weren't in the plaza.

The lawsuit calls for a federal judge to declare the state's "failure to disperse" statute unconstitutional. The statute says police can declare a gathering of more than three disorderly people unlawful.

Jason Munley, 33, of East Liberty, a home remodeling contractor, flashed an obscene gesture to police as he was riding a scooter.

"I wanted to display my displeasure for making this city into a police state," said Munley, who claims police shot him with 10 pepper balls, causing painful welts on his back and ear.

Another plaintiff, Ben Tabas, 20, a Pitt senior, said police refused him access to his insulin until he required emergency treatment while at the county jail.

Kyle Kramer, 22, said he was forced to kneel in front of 15 Chicago police officers for a "trophy" photo.

The ACLU said the 25 plaintiffs were found not guilty or had charges withdrawn by prosecutors.

Dozens of local, state and federal police agencies assisted city police during the G-20 summit.

The lawsuit names the city, police department, Chief Nate Harper, Deputy Chief Paul Donaldson, 15 city police officers and 100 others only identified as "Officers Doe." The named officers were: Lt. Ed Trapp, Timothy Deary, Thomas Pauley, Alisa Duncan, Dorthea Leftwich, Donald Snider, Richard Howe, Larry Crawford, Douglas Hugney, William Friburger, Michelle McHenry, David Sisak, Rita Leap, Robert Shaw and Michael Veith.

The city paid $3 million for $20 million in insurance to cover claims arising from the G-20 summit.

Frank Beal filed a separate federal lawsuit Aug. 23 claiming he was beaten by police.

Seattle paid $1.8 million to settle lawsuits stemming from 1999 World Trade Organization arrests, while Los Angeles paid nearly $13 million after more than 300 protesters and bystanders said police attacked them during a 2007 immigration rally.

The attorney general's office for Washington said the district agreed last year to pay $22 million to settle federal lawsuits filed by hundreds of protesters and bystanders arrested in 2000 and 2002.

Police arrested 700 during a 2000 World Bank protest and 400 during another World Bank protest two years later, said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, an attorney with civil rights group Partnership for Civil Justice, which represented the protesters. She said no one arrested was convicted of a crime.

Along with the payouts, officials agreed to several reforms, Verheyden-Hilliard said, including banning the practice of herding protesters so they can be arrested and improving tracking of evidence collected during mass arrests.