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Texas Town Sees 61% Drop in Crime After Kicking Out Cops
Sputnik ^ | 03.03.2015 | N/A

Posted on 03/03/2015 4:10:41 AM PST by Freeport

Rather than degenerate into a lawless land where criminals rule the streets, a Texas town that fired its entire police department has seen a 61% decrease is crime.

In 2012, Sharpstown, a community of 66,000 located just southwest of Houston, declined to renew its contract with the constable’s office, essentially dismissing its cops.

Instead, the Sharpstown Civic Association hired SEAL Security Solutions, a private firm, to patrol their streets.

“Since we’ve been in there, an independent crime study that they’ve had done [indicates] we’ve reduced the crime by 61% in just 20 months," James Alexander, Director of Operations for SEAL, told guns.com

The private security firm places its officers on continuous patrol in their assigned neighborhoods, as opposed to the strategy of intermittent presence that the constable embraced.

“On a constable patrol contract, it’s either a 70/30 or an 80/20,” Alexander said. “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.”

SEAL also relies heavily on crime statistics when it designs its patrol efforts.

“The second thing that drastically reduces the crime is that we do directed patrols, meaning we don’t just put an officer out there and say ‘here, go patrol,’” he said. “We look at recent crime stats, and we work off of those crime stats. So if we have hotspots in those areas say for that month, we focus and concentrate our efforts around those hotspots.”

(Excerpt) Read more at sputniknews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: city; donutwatch; privatesecurity
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What say you? I'm of two minds: If it works, use it. But this is an accountable police chief issue I think. i.e. If the police chief's of this nation are trained wrong, implementing the wrong strategies to get ahead of crime, why not retrain instead?

Again... of two minds on this one.

1 posted on 03/03/2015 4:10:41 AM PST by Freeport
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To: Freeport

Or maybe the cops were in cahoots with the crime circles?


2 posted on 03/03/2015 4:12:47 AM PST by Roman_War_Criminal
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To: Freeport

Who are crimes reported to now?


3 posted on 03/03/2015 4:13:29 AM PST by cripplecreek ("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
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To: Freeport

This article is a little misleading. The title implies that the town completely ditched law enforcement professionals, which is not the case. Instead, they replaced public cops with a private contracted security firm, and the security firm uses data analysis to decide where and how to place its personnel. Furthermore, it appears that there is more on-the-street coverage than when there were public cops.

So it is not a case where a town completely got rid of law enforcement. On the contrary, the town instituted a more effective system of law enforcement.


4 posted on 03/03/2015 4:16:29 AM PST by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
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To: Freeport

It reminds me a bit of the David Dinkins admin in NYC deciding to “just not report or prosecute” crime and this would magically make the crime rate drop.


5 posted on 03/03/2015 4:16:53 AM PST by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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To: cripplecreek

“Who are crimes reported to now?”

I would hazard a guess that crimes & 911 calls are now reported to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Which leads to another question; How much more is this costing HCSO, just answering and maybe solving the 61% fewer crime calls in these suburban towns?


6 posted on 03/03/2015 4:23:40 AM PST by Tupelo (I feel more like Philip Nolan by the day)
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To: Freeport

I like it. Actual free market accountability in law enforcement. And no ridiculous public sector pension plans.


7 posted on 03/03/2015 4:23:48 AM PST by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
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To: Freeport

Always suspicious when the ones saying crime has dropped are the ones who have a profit motive to not record crimes. Like NYC has done - crime is the same or higher - but they do not call most formerly criminal acts as “crime” and it does not make it into the official reports as a “crime.”

But, replacing a corrupt union run force with a private one could cause such a positive effect. Would need to see if they pulled the trick of redefining terms and methods of reporting “crimes” like NYC did...


8 posted on 03/03/2015 4:24:01 AM PST by Mechanicos (Nothing's so small it can't be blown out of proportion.)
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To: Freeport
SEAL also relies heavily on crime statistics when it designs its patrol efforts.

That's RACIST!!

9 posted on 03/03/2015 4:25:57 AM PST by Fresh Wind (Falcon 105)
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To: Freeport

Holders attorneys boarding plane as we speak. Law and order plus less government must be stopped.


10 posted on 03/03/2015 4:26:49 AM PST by epluribus_2 (he had the best mm - ever.)
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To: exDemMom

“On the contrary, the town instituted a more effective system of law enforcement.”

ie, went private. Will it work everywhere? Let’s get Scott Walker to purge the gov’t cops.


11 posted on 03/03/2015 4:27:56 AM PST by Rennes Templar
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To: exDemMom
The title implies...

Titles are carefully designed to get you to click on the link, not to convey actual information.

12 posted on 03/03/2015 4:28:11 AM PST by Fresh Wind (Falcon 105)
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To: Freeport

Who records a crime? The cops. So you want the reporting of crime to go down, get rid of the cops.


13 posted on 03/03/2015 4:28:57 AM PST by ThePatriotsFlag ($$$$$ Don't Defund the Government...Defund Obama and his illegal policies $$$$$)
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To: exDemMom

Looks to me like a confirmation that privatization is a better option.


14 posted on 03/03/2015 4:30:06 AM PST by WinMod70
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To: exDemMom

Exactly. There are lots of Detroit neighborhoods with private security. They don’t do criminal investigations or worry about petty crimes. If they see an assault or robbery going on they’ll intervene. They check out dark alleys and keep an eye on buildings for signs of break ins. They harass crack dealers by parking outside crack houses and acting like they’re taking pictures of people going in and out.

They’re actually fairly effective as a preventative measure simply because they’re visible.


15 posted on 03/03/2015 4:30:28 AM PST by cripplecreek ("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
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To: Tupelo

My little town got rid of our 5 man police force a few years back. By law we have to contract with the county sheriff for patrols.

It hasn’t really had any effect on crime since the crime rate here is virtually zero.


16 posted on 03/03/2015 4:33:47 AM PST by cripplecreek ("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
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To: Freeport

Funny how things go away when you don’t look...


17 posted on 03/03/2015 4:35:06 AM PST by broken_arrow1 (I regret that I have but one life to give for my country - Nathan Hale "Patriot")
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To: Darksheare

I heard yesterday that traffic tickets are no being issued at all in the St. Louis area, the cops have stacked arms.


18 posted on 03/03/2015 4:39:46 AM PST by yldstrk
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
...a Texas town that fired its entire police department has seen a 61% decrease is crime. In 2012, Sharpstown, a community of 66,000 located just southwest of Houston, declined to renew its contract with the constable's office, essentially dismissing its cops. Instead, the Sharpstown Civic Association hired SEAL Security Solutions, a private firm, to patrol their streets.
Wait until they cap a perp of color.
19 posted on 03/03/2015 4:42:09 AM PST by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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To: Freeport

They contracted a police force that was more competent than the one they had.

Well guess what. The contractors want to be rehired. This gives them a greater impetus to try to do what is right. None of this yuk yuk yukking over doughnuts. The client matters.


20 posted on 03/03/2015 4:42:19 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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