With Police Cuts, Detroit’s Private Security Market Is Booming
Due to a poor economic climate, The City of Detroit has been forced to cut its police force by more than 25 percent. With the unemployment rate going up, the local police that remain are overwhelmed and understaffed. In areas where its residents can pay, private security companies are fast becoming one of Detroit’s most rapid growing businesses. “People put a premium on security when unemployment and crime go up,” says Larry Dusing, founder of Dusing Security & Surveillance.Dusing Security is one of the companies that provides security for the once prosperous enclaves of Detroit like Palmer Woods, Boston-Edison and Indian Village. The company investigates the reports of suspicious activities and break- ins.
“If you notice a guy stopping and staring [at a house],” Cooper says, “he’s obviously up to no good.”
The members of the “Historic Indian Village Association,” a local residents’ group, split the cost of private security — about $30 per household each month, which they consider to be worth it since it protects them from something that the local police doesn’t have time to do.
(Via Time)
