That's when they got big in the US.
Their origin is as a protection racket in Italy, almost a shadow government. They offered protection for a price... and gave those who didn't pay a reason to need it.
Without a government to ensure that such a practice doesn't occur, how can we expect anything other than protection rackets?
And who protects the poor who obviously won't be able to afford good protection? As opposed to the freeriders in rich areas who don't need to pay for protection because others do?
Granted, we already see such a stratification in our society... but privatization would not solve that and would likely make it worse.

I agree that we should reduce the number of laws and quit imprisoning everyone who ends up committing a victimless crime... but I think we need a police force that is accountable to all the people, not just those who pay (again, unlike our current system... but the problem is that people do make profit [prison businesses, quota revenues]...) Police service needs to be more socialized, not less.

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