Security Tax

At a time when more funds are needed for police and sheriff services, I suggest a countywide tax on private security services such as security guards, burglar alarms and private investigators.

Well-to-do businesses and individuals pay millions of dollars for a level of security that the rest of us cannot afford. Also, private security services create additional work for tax-supported police agencies that respond to alarms and are required by law to transport, book and hold individuals arrested by “rent-a-cops”.

Another reason to support such a tax is that while private companies may suppress some crime, they also serve to drive crime out of “rich” areas so that a disproportionate amount of crime occurs in areas that cannot afford private policing.

How many crack dealers await their customers standing on the streets of Beverly Hills?

RICHARD BLYTH

Los Angeles