Obviously, I do not support privatization for LE or Fire protection services, but my reasons might surprise some of you...
In theory, privatization of these services sound like they would solve a lot of the problems... This has actually been tried in Florida to some extend in different communities and has proven not to be feasible or affordable for many reasons... Wackenhut, MediVan, and American Ambulance are a few national private companies that have tried and failed mostly due to the challenge of the logistics of serving one city or municipality that does not have the same training and/or qualification standards as the other... Many of these services require mutual aid and infrastructure that would be very costly to implement and still deliver the same standard of service.
The main problem with regard to police and fire services is that each community is unique in both demographics, and risk... These services are never a "one size fits all" scenario. Most cities and counties actually want these services to mirror both their demographics and specific needs which outside private services cannot provide. Also, many communities especially in rural areas cannot afford private services especially for Fire and EMS protection. Even their police protection is bare minimum, and to this day function as a volunteer basis which I also oppose for safety reasons...
The only way privatization of these services would work is if the entire city or state subscribed to one service... And, even then, that city or state would be subject to a monopoly of said services...
I always used to joke with the firemen that they should go back to the old days when fire service was privatized, and the different departments would all race to the fire and brawls between the competing departments would break out over who gets the fire while the building burns to the ground... If anybody has ever seen the movie Gangs of New York, you know what I am talking about...
