The Core
Why We Are Here => Water Cooler => Topic started by: Mackin USA on November 06, 2017, 11:15:39 AM
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As Wildfires Raged, Insurers Sent in Private Firefighters to Protect Homes of the Wealthy
Insurers see boost in enrollments ‘as people have seen us save homes’; consumer advocates say programs mean rich get better protections
https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-wildfires-raged-insurers-sent-in-private-firefighters-to-protect-homes-of-the-wealthy-1509886801
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Wow, that's like how fire protection used to be a century ago when fire companies competed for business in big cities, and sometimes fought each other instead of fires.
Like so much else in America, we are seeing the death of the commons and a move to a
1) self-service economy,
2) a subscription-based economy
3) an everyone for himself or herself economy
That said, if I'm an insurance company looking to mitigate risks, do I spend $50K on firefighters to defend a modest home that is hard to defend because it's a on a small lot has only a small amount of defensible space, or do I spend that $50K to send a crew to a sprawling, multi-million dollar estate where if one in twenty times it's effective, I come out ahead? Insurance companies live and die by getting the cost/risk calculation correct.
I don't blame the insurance companies for making this decision. The root of the problem is that, in general, people do now want to get real about the costs, responsibilities and risks of living in fire country or hurricane country or flood plains.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Patrol_Special_Police
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Zoiks! This sounds like a good recipe
All Patrol Special Officers are authorized to carry a firearm
Patrol Special Officers were NOT required to attend a formal police academy unlike all San Francisco Police Officers
http://sanfranciscopolice.org/patrol-specials
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Their definition has changed over the decades, in the 70s & 80s they did have to go through the police academy like all the other SF police, but their status has been down graded over the years. All the remaining patrol specials are old men now. Before the mid-80s they had full police authority but were paid by private companies.