I read this somewhere and it sounds plausible to me: a private police subscription. As-a-service if you will. They would do the same things as police but only for subscribers and with better "customer service".

Maybe you could also look at the same thing as: as private security + private detectives (?) scaled and commoditized via software and gigwork.

It‘s a nightmarish idea, don‘t get me wrong, but I can see it.

Well if they can do anything about car break-ins and larceny in SF I think they'll get a lot of business. Bet they can also package their service when renting a car at the airport. Almost dystopian, but I can see it.

I don’t think that they would do anything more than security guards currently do, which because of the liability and risk of prosecution, in San Francisco, is zero.

I'm not sure why you're being downvoted, they are already offering/piloting this type of service.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7evbx/citizen-app-private-s...

They partner with police. The revenue play is charging governments access to a feed of events happening just in their jurisdiction (with some cleaning up/grouping of similar reports).

Citizen gets the police to pay them for access, then gets the police to advertise the app to them as an alternative to calling non emergency dispatch. In turn more people down Citizen and Citizen can probably monetize that.

In LA they even have Citizen branded patrol vehicles rather than community service officers as a pilot program. So rather than having like an unarmed (and normally unsworn) employee of LAPD in a Prius with a little orange light on the top, you get a private contractor in a citizen branded vehicle doing the patrol.

The big question is if Citizen gets into E911 systems, which have a lot more liability than non emergency type things. Is Citizen going to make a play to become the standard way of contacting 911 via text based communication at some point and attempt to generate revenue via running that infrastructure.

Curious - what can this private Citizen branded patrol actually do? Isn't it just a camera on wheels? It can't make arrests, it can't handcuff people, it can't do much legally.

A majority of private security in the country works through intimidation alone. Legally they have next to no rights, at least different from you or me or any other bystander. If I ever get harassed by mall cops or anyone else of the sort my response is always to either ignore them completely or ask them to call the cops. In both cases I am immediately left alone.

Yeah I don’t know the laws of private security companies. For example, if you hire private security firm to guard a bank, are they allowed to use lethal force to protect the bank?

It’s scary how close to the real deal vehicle this Citizen patrol van looks like. I think they can even put police lights on legally if I’m not mistaken.

They're only allowed the privileges a normal person like you and me would, which depends on the state and whether they have stand your ground laws in place, or duty to retreat. The guard would have to fear for his/her life, or great bodily injury.

Observe and report, and verbally harass if necessary, in an "acceptable" manner. Using robots apparently is not yet in vogue, so citizen branded patrol might be the current local-minima for this type of function:

https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/13/16771148/robot-security-...

I knew someone that worked at the SFSPCA and they said the robot absolutely put a dent in car-break-ins, needling, and encampments in the animal-shelter parking lot, but advocates won in the end.

What worked in Knightscopes case is the feeling of "presence" that security cams, even the panning ones with a built-in speaker, are unable to give off. So Citizen branded patrols fill that "presence" role.

Needling as in intravenous drug use?

Whatever it is it probably already exists in South Africa.