Security Tax
At a time when more funds are needed for police and sheriff services, I suggest a countywide tax on private security services such as security guards, burglar alarms and private investigators.
Well-to-do businesses and individuals pay millions of dollars for a level of security that the rest of us cannot afford. Also, private security services create additional work for tax-supported police agencies that respond to alarms and are required by law to transport, book and hold individuals arrested by “rent-a-cops”.
Another reason to support such a tax is that while private companies may suppress some crime, they also serve to drive crime out of “rich” areas so that a disproportionate amount of crime occurs in areas that cannot afford private policing.
How many crack dealers await their customers standing on the streets of Beverly Hills?
RICHARD BLYTH
Los Angeles
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
