American police forces have had more than their share of bad publicity. Corruption, racial profiling, use of excessive force … rightly or wrongly, it has all been reported regularly on the televised evening news. And it appears to be happening nationwide.

So one Texas town decided to think outside the box. The civic leaders fired the public constable’s office. Private security agents were subsequently hired. The result? A 61 percent drop in crime.

Sharpstown, located southwest of Houston, had had enough. Public policing was proving to be ineffective. So, in 2012, town leaders did not renew the community’s contract with its constable’s division.

Instead, they hired private security officers from SEAL Security Systems. The new officers moved in and, in slightly less than two years, crime had dropped by almost two-thirds, according to SEAL Security’s director of operations, James Alexander.

Why the drastic improvement? Alexander believes it is because SEAL Security follows a rather obvious–sounding strategy of focusing policing in areas that need it most.

SEAL Security, of course, hopes to make money keeping Sharpstown streets safe. Consequently,

the company’s officers are trained to avoid incidents that can lead to expensive lawsuits against the city for police-related misbehavior.

Such incidents would ultimately cut into SEAL Security’s bottom line.

And, city leaders are happy. Sharpstown saved $200,000 a year compared with the expense of maintaining the constable’s office (H/T Infowars).

Now, more than 70 communities in the Houston metropolitan area have contracted with SEAL Security Systems.

Maybe more American communities should consider a private company to carry out law enforcement.

If you think private security forces may be an effective solution for problem-prone public police departments, please share this article on Facebook.

Date:Friday, March 6th, 2015