Private Volunteers Step In Where Police Are AWOL

[Draggingtree]

Ludwig von Mises Institute: Private Volunteers Step In Where Police Are AWOL

DECEMBER 23, 2014 Julian Adorney

In Ferguson, Missouri, when police and national guard failed to protect businesses from rioting protestors, a private organization called Oath Keepers stepped up to fill the gap.

 

The presence of Oath Keepers, keeping the peace where police officers failed, helps answer a larger question: how necessary are police?

 

The heart of the state’s justification has always been that it can provide essential services that the market cannot, chief among them security. While admitting that police abuses were problematic, Miguel Guadalupe of the Huffington Post asserted that, “one thing is certain — [sic] a strong body of law enforcement, and one that is held in respect and prestige, is critical to the stability of a society.” Even minarchist scholars such as Locke and Hazlitt have assumed that, while markets may surpass government in a variety of activities, the state must always exist to provide a framework of security.

 

Anarchist scholars have critiqued this claim. But, as convincing as theories on private protection are,