Privatize Your Police State!
The problem with running a police state is that it's so terribly expensive. You've got to hire all of those informants and secret policeman. Think of the labor costs. No wonder North Korea is going broke.
The solution, as usual, is to inject a little free-market competition into the business of 24/7 citizen surveillance. The North Koreans only have to look south for the answer. From the NYTimes:
With his debts mounting and his wages barely enough to cover the interest, Im Hyun-seok decided he needed a new job. The mild-mannered former English tutor joined South Korea’s growing ranks of camera-toting bounty hunters.
Known here sarcastically as paparazzi, people like Mr. Im stalk their prey and capture them on film. But it is not celebrities, politicians or even hardened criminals they pursue. Rather, they roam cities secretly videotaping fellow citizens breaking the law, deliver the evidence to government officials and collect the rewards.
“Some people hate us,” Mr. Im said. “But we’re only doing what the law encourages.”
Okay, so maybe some of these guys have it coming to them:
The opportunities are everywhere: a factory releasing industrial waste into a river, a building owner keeping an emergency exit locked, doctors and lawyers not providing receipts for payment so that they can underreport their taxable income.
Mr. Im’s pet target is people who burn garbage at construction sites, a violation of environmental laws.
Would it work here? Would we want it to work here? Before you say "no," consider:
The outsourcing of law enforcement has also been something of a boon for local governments. They say that they can save money on hiring officers, and that the fines imposed on offenders generally outstrip the rewards paid to informers. (The reward for reporting illegal garbage dumping: about $40. The fine: about 10 times as much.)
For most infractions, rewards can range from as little as about $5 (reporting a cigarette tosser) to as much as $850 (turning in an unlicensed seller of livestock). But there are possibilities for windfalls. Seoul’s city government promises up to $1.7 million for reports of major corruption involving its own staff members.
And to be really successful, you've got to show cleverness:
“People have a mistaken notion that to be successful, paparazzi must dress and act like spies and use super high-tech gear,” said Mr. Im, who runs a popular blog under his paparazzi alias, Song Mung-suk. “But what matters the most is to work and think hard.”
In 2005, he noticed that virtually all coin-operated coffee machines in Internet game parlors he visited lacked proper sanitary inspection tags. So he called hundreds of Internet parlors, telling them, “I left my wallet near your coffee machine,” to find out which ones had such a machine. He compiled a list and reported all of them, collecting $2,600.
There's something sort of....unAmerican about being a snitch. But the free-market angle is interesting.
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Comments :
Nov '10
Re: Privatize Your Police State!
Well, that may be how they roll in South Korea, but 'round these here parts, snitches get stitches. It's the American way.
ETA: And also...wow. This is just seriously creepy.
Edited on Oct 1, 2011 at 7:24pmDec '10
Re: Privatize Your Police State!
Rob
Ever heard of AttackWatch.com? They don't even pay, although I heard something about a free brown shirt.
Edited on Oct 1, 2011 at 8:00pmJul '11
Re: Privatize Your Police State!
Coming soon as a jobs program to a country near you.
Feb '11
Re: Privatize Your Police State!
I wonder how they deal with false accusations, both the "good faith" kind and the malicious.
Sep '10
Re: Privatize Your Police State!
Is there a difference between this and whistle blower laws that have been in effect here for some time?
Apr '11
Re: Privatize Your Police State!
I think in America this kind of activity would earn you a beating, which I guess you can report to the cops for a bit of extra doe, though I'm not sure it's worth it. Frankly I think it's slightly healthier to be able to ignore the law once in a while (at least minor laws, like speed limits). But, turning in your fellow citizens for littering or not complying with all bureaucratic licences, that would mean the bureaucracy wins. Fight the power I say.
Jul '10
Re: Privatize Your Police State!
Well you have to file a lawsuit to collect any bounty here.
So you can't remain hidden.
Mar '11
Re: Privatize Your Police State!
Civic minded citizens should report criminal activity. As long as the laws are just and reasonable at least. When government oversteps, as in prohibition, the citizens cover their eyes.