Outlaw Private Security

This is neither uncommon nor new.  Pinkertons murdered protesters and union members going back to the Civil War. Private security goons are everywhere, and far more likely to kill or maim you and get away with it than actual cops are.

Not to mention that most private security guards are cop wannabees who flunked the psych evals at a police department. That alone should be enough to bar them from any security job or from owning a gun.

Nobody needs private security. Nobody needs to hire off-duty cops for private security. If we adequately funded our police departments to increase staff rather than buy war toys, and demanded Guardian training, companies could rest easy knowing public security is sufficient.

Think Progress:

A private security guard working at Whole Foods in Oakland beat a black man unconscious on Thursday evening, according to witness accounts.

One witness, Zoe Marks, told the Oakland Tribune that she “watched as the guard slammed the man against a concrete pillar, put him in a chokehold until he passed out, and threw him out of the store.” According to Marks, the man was in a verbal argument with a cashier but was not violent before being assaulted by the security officer. “He wasn’t shouting at anyone. He wasn’t violent or disruptive,” Marks said.

Marks also posted an account of the incident — along with graphic photos of the victim — on Facebook.

Whole Foods said they have fired the guard involved and the security firm that employed him.

The Oakland police are investigating.

In the United States, private security guards outnumber actual police officers 5 to 1. Security expert Bruce Schneier notes that they “often receive minimal training, if any. They don’t graduate from police academies.” As a result “[a]buses of power, brutality, and illegal behavior are much more common among private security guards.”

Keep your heads down and your mouths shut, citizens.