Texas Town Fires Police, Hires Private Security

The small Texas town of Sharpstown fired their police department and replaced them with a privately-run security team, with surprising results. Sharpstown let their police force contract lapse back in 2012, and then hired S.E.A.L. Security, according to Guns. The town calls the security force the Sharpstown Patrol, and their work has resulted in a dramatic drop in crime.

In an interview with Guns, the director of operations for S.E.A.L., Jason Alexander, said that the city did a study which revealed that in 20 months, there has been a 61 percent drop in crime in the small town of just 6,800 people.

The Texas town, which is actually a huge subdivision of Houston, was formerly patrolled by a constable police force, which cost taxpayers about $200,000 more than what they are paying now. Alexander says that part of the reason for S.E.A.L.’s success is that officers continually patrol instead of just showing up now and then.

“On a constable patrol contract, it’s either a 70/30 or an 80/20,” Alexander told Guns. “Meaning they say they patrol your community 70 percent of the time, [while] 30 percent of the time they use for running calls out of your area or writing reports.”

The revelations in the report on crime-fighting in the Houston subdivision point to a possible alternative to 21st century policing, which has become a public relations nightmare for cities large and small during the past year. Numerous high-profile police shootings and instances of alleged misconduct or brutality have led to calls for reform, including in Texas.

In the case of Sharpstown, though, the privately-hired security personnel they’ve brought on are personally accountable for their work and the satisfaction of local residents. They are also less heavily-equipped with excess military equipment that has become increasingly common in many police departments during recent years.

Essentially, a company driven by profit will be much more likely to perform in a manner that gets their contract renewed and draws in new future contracts.

According to Infowars, the report on the effectiveness of private security patrols states that more than 70 communities in Harris County (which is greater Houston) use S.E.A.L. for security.

“They’re less expensive, better at crime prevention, they do not target citizens for revenue, and, best of all, each officer is personally accountable for his or her actions,” the report states. It adds that private security could – and perhaps should – be the wave of the future for other parts of America.

“The rest of the country would do well to closely examine the success of Sharpstown’s implementation of private security.”

[Image via S.E.A.L. Security]