Several articles has been written lately about the incompetence of the Swedish police. Despite more resources the police fails to respond to emergency calls around 6500 times every year, a number that is increasing. In July this year, in my region of southern Sweden only, the police failed to respond 500 times. In cases of gunfire and other such extreme emergencies the response is extremely slow, and in almost all complaints against the police the investigation is closed. The most common crime of policemen not in service is domestic abuse. For ordinary people, violent crime is quite far down on the list. But what kind of people do you think are attracted to a violent occupation? Obviously those who like violence.
The state police, then, is lazy, wasteful, incompetent and violent. It's not that there are a few bad apples, the whole system sucks.
- The state police has monopoly so there is nowhere else to turn. This alone means that they don't have the incentive to provide a good service.
- They receive money through taxes, i.e. through theft from the population. Their customers to please are not you and I, we're are not giving them money, but rather politicians and bureaucrats. The state police protect and serve them, not us. Why do you think that the penalty for tax evasion is so incredibly high?
- There is no third party acting as judge in a conflict between a civilian and the state. The state itself acts as judge. What then? Well, naturally the state won't judge itself as hard as it will judge civilians. Police officers can therefore get away with almost anything.
There is a solution to the problem. Privatize both police and courts.
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For further reading and consideration:
Enforcement of Private Property Rights in Primitive Societies: Law without Government
Don't Confuse "Private" Prisons with Free-Market Prisons
Anarchism and the Public Goods Issue: Law, Courts, and the Police
Privatize the Police - Murray Rothbard
Privatization of Municipality-Provided Services
Police States and Private Markets - Jeff Deist
The Privatization of Roads and Highways
The Case for Privatization — of Everything | Walter Block
Private Police? Bruce Benson on the Tom Woods Show
