“We live in an age when pizza gets to your home before the police.” Jeff Marder
I have spent considerable time in a few metro cities like Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Bangalore. When I came to Delhi, one particular issue regarding residential property in Delhi stood out clearly. The use of private security guards in front of most houses. When you look at the ineffectiveness of police forces in Delhi (Delhi police is under the Union government and not the state government of Delhi) one is able to understand the phenomenon.
This brings me to the market for law-enforcement especially private security. When people are voting with their feet to private security agencies, you know that the state sponsored police force is not being held in trust by the people. This could be due to various reasons extending from “They don’t have that kind of facilities” to “I can’t trust Delhi police.” No one would argue that these private security vendors are in great demand and are especially a function of purchasing power.
There are two interesting questions:
1> How should the market for private security be opened up?
2> Where do you draw the “institutional” line for private security agencies?
Post Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this essay are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of CCS.
