Moving to San Jose? Don’t forget to bring your own police officers. And be prepared to pay for them. That might very well be the sales pitch in the near future, as San Jose residents become increasingly fed up with their City leaders decimating the local police force. It seems the new trend to ensure personal safety here in the 10th largest city in America, is to hire private security to make sure no one is breaking into your home, stealing your valuables, or committing other, more serious crimes.
I’m not talking about affluent, gated communities who routinely employ paid security guards. We’re starting to see middle class neighborhoods, with residents who also work hard for what they have and don’t want to be victimized, hire private security. What else can they do when they cannot depend on a police officer to come to their aid when they call?
With response times for police hovering around 20 minutes, neighborhood and homeowner’s associations throughout San Jose are paying for mobile private security guards to protect their homes and possessions. In addition, we’re now urged by our city leaders to get video cameras we can share with the overworked and understaffed police to use for crime investigation.
All of this added homeowner security costs money and much of it is very expensive. But city leaders seem to be saying to us: “We’re not going to pay for adequate public safety measures, so you’re on your own, San Jose.”
The source of this San Jose “private policing” was the passage of the 2012 Measure B. This proposition was the centerpiece of an economic miracle sold to San Jose voters by the Reed/Liccardo Snake Oil Company. The current result is that there is no real savings because homeowners are paying more for private security guards, home camera systems, increased insurance premiums, and other things. There is no free lunch. Public safety and protection costs money. The public good demands that a community work together to benefit all – not just those who can afford it. The purpose of City Government is to provide the greatest good for the many – not just a chosen few.
Steve Kline is a local attorney and community activist.
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