Seattle City Council move to abolish police department with new bill

[Nanners]

and that's my argument, to what degree? bc current police are essentially unaccountable. so how much worse will private security be?

Are you really going to make me spell it out for you?

In virtually every jurisdiction in this country, a city police commissioner will be appointed by a publicly elected politician (usually a mayor), and that commissioner must run their department at the direction of that politician (or they get replaced). Under a privatized model, the head of the police is only going to be accountable to whoever is financing them (probably a homeowners association or something).

The police are supposed to follow a set of policies that are made publicly available. If the public does not like a police policy, they can pressure their local government for a change. A private security force has no obligation to share their policies with the public, and their policies will be determined by whatever private entity is paying them.

Police are required to log virtually all of their interactions in reports, and these reports are available to the public under most circumstances. A private security force would have no such requirement.

The public can vote or pressure their politicians to force public law enforcement agencies to do things like wear body cameras, and a public police force is typically required to make evidence like body camera footage publicly available. It would be virtually impossible for the public to force a private security to wear body cameras, or make their camera footage available to the public.

Do you need more examples? I can keep going all day.

[Nanners]

Highwey, do you think private mercenaries employed by companies like Blackwater have more accountability to the public than the US military? Do you think that private schools have more accountability to the public than public schools? Do you think that private health insurance companies have more accountability to the public than public health systems like medicare and medicaid?

Why would the police be any different?