Revealed: government plans for police privatisation West Midlands and Surrey police offer £1.5bn contract under which private firms may investigate crime and detain suspects
Private companies could take responsibility for investigating crimes, patrolling neighbourhoods and even detaining suspects under a radical privatisation plan being put forward by two of the largest police forces in the country.
West Midlands and Surrey have invited bids from G4S and other major security companies on behalf of all forces across England and Wales to take over the delivery of a wide range of services previously carried out by the police.
The contract is the largest on police privatisation so far, with a potential value of £1.5bn over seven years, rising to a possible £3.5bn depending on how many other forces get involved.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/02/police-privatisation-security-firms-crime
With the hope to stave off the usual comments, I Googled "West Midlands", which Wikipedia indicates is in England.
The location is also given as UK, but since that designation often brings on the "You haven't a clue" comments, I have avoided using that designation, just in case this location in the middle of the island happens to be a previously unknown to us American's part of France or the Klingon homeworld that's only known to the actual inhabitants, military intelligence and a small dog named Collin from Dunning on the World.
Having hopefully gotten the regular disagreement over location names out of the way, and hoping that the Guardian is a reputable source this week, what's the chance we can discuss the actual idea here of police privatization and the thoughts behind it?