Liberty Sanders
Master
Nope, go back to the OP; it's about neighborhoods hiring private security to patrol because they don't think the police do it enough. The police say they don't have enough officers to do everything they're being called on to do. Marion County fire departments, for the most part, have enough manning to do what they're being asked to do, although their ambulance services are starting to be either privatized, or are being staffed by civilian EMTs/Paramedics at lower cost so that smaller staffing levels of fire fighters are needed.
Now that I think about it, a police agency with staffing issues caused by lack of money might come up with a couple alternatives if they thought "outside-the-box".
There's a concept in some parts of the country that has a great deal of potential, especially now that so many municipalities are suffering economic woes.
It is a "public safety officer" who is certified as both a police officer and a firefighter.
What I've seen of this makes sense to me. Firefighters, by necessity, spend a certain amount of down time in the firehouse, and that is in NO WAY a criticism of firefighters. It's just the system that's been in place for ages. They can't patrol for fires so they have to sit somewhere and wait for them. Necessary, but wasteful in the long run.
A combination of the two forces, with the PSO patrolling as a LEO until he's needed as a firefighter would have to result in some savings.
I realize that this system probably works a great deal better in bedroom communities than in metro areas (our roughnecks in Cincinnati, in some of their firehouses spent precious little time in the house and I'm sure it's the same here), but maybe it's worth a look.