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Comment by beAbU | Hacker News Reader

I have an alarm system connected to various sensors in and around my house: PIR sensors, IR beams and mag switches on all doors.

The alarm system is armed when Im not home, or at night when I'm in bed.

This system is connected to an armed response agency via a dedicated radio link. No cellular or internet connection.

If something trips the alarm, then their control room phones me immediately. If I dont answer the call, then they dispatch an armed guard to my house, who is there within 5 mins. The guard has access to my property and they can then conduct a search for the cause of the alarm.

The personnel working for this company os significantly better trained and equipped than the local police.

I get all this for less than $2 a month.

And this is pretty much the norm in South African capital city suburbs. Definitely not reserved for the wealthy.

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents to this conversation.

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I've heard a similar story about rural Indians and private schools. I don't have a source, but I've read that most poor rural Indians send their children to private schools and its incredibly cheap, because the public schools are a disaster (e.g. teachers don't show up half the time).

It's funny how we think of things as a luxury in the developed world, but in places that don't have a well functioning public sector, you can't afford to not but a private service that's normally provided by the state.

For those reading this, the above is probably a typo. It's more like 20$, but still ridiculously cheap and well worth it. Well worth the money though.

The police here respond to calls after an hour if they even come at all, and that's after they refer you to a different branch because you're not in their area. Bit exaggerated but living here you quickly learn as a middle class person that the only time to call the police is for insurance purposes.

SA is a great example of how private services can function decently. Not perfect.

Private medical Healthcare. Private insurance and retirement plans. Private ambulance services. Private fire fighting. Also private security.

> who is there within 5 mins.

Lots can happen in 5 mins. If things are so dangerous, why not get a guard dog and arm yourself.

> The guard has access to my property and they can then conduct a search for the cause of the alarm.

What is expected from a guard you pay $2 to? Is he even armed? If he has access to your property, what prevents him from stealing from you or harming you?

Well it's an economy of scale thing, I'm sure lots of people are paying the $2 and incidents are rare

Why do you need all that, though?

SA has (and has had) one of the greatest incidences of violent crime in the world, especially in its urban areas.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/violent-c...

So he lives in an extremely dangerous place with utterly ineffective policing and we're supposed to envy him?

No, the point seems to be that the private sector is able to come up with economical solutions to security when the government will not or cannot.

Applying the same efficiency with bigger budgets in safer areas would likely turn out better.

I doubt it would scale very well. It's easy to put a private guard within 5 minutes of nice homes in a high crime area. It's another thing to have guards 5 minutes from everywhere. You run into the same problem as a private sector post office or internet provider. They will not provide the same service to everyone regardless of location. The mail that has to be delivered by helicopter to the top of a mountain costs a stamp. The private shipping company wants a small fortune to delver there. The private internet companies won't provide service to some rural areas at all (even though the government pays them over and over again to increase accessibility)

Privatizing the police seems like a bad idea. For one thing, it exacerbates inequality between those who can pay for security and those who cannot (or can only pay for inferior service.) If private security becomes the go-to for the well-off, who have a very disproportionate say in society, they will stop caring about universally-provided security of the police, and will let the institution wither, increasing inequality further. Inequality is bad for the cohesion of society.

Agree. Although applying efficiency principles learned from the market seems wise, even under socialized policing.

Do you have any kind of insurance on anything (health, car, home, etc)?

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