Ynet is out with an article this morning about how 300 people have volunteered to be a part of a neighborhood watch group in order to spot lone wolf would-be murderers trying to plow into groups of people or hack at them with pickaxes or shoot them.

The most common objection to anarcho-capitalism is that the free market cannot produce a single, unified police force, and competing police forces would be at war with one another. But 300 people mobilizing to protect private property of their own free will is the same exact thing as a police force. The only difference is they’re not being paid. Are they going to spontaneously start shooting each other because they are not all the same police company?

Sure, sounds totally plausible, in an insane asylum.

But why shouldn’t they be paid? Why can’t a group of private businesses in Jerusalem pool their resources together to hire a few hundred people – maybe even poor homeless people who could use some money, train them in the basics of shooting a gun, and have them patrol the streets?

Why is this such a crazy idea? It’s perfectly sound and doable, much cheaper than supporting a police force, and puts money in the pockets of the poor.

Jerusalem does not need one single cop. All it needs is a cooperative populace to organize around the price system and hire some people to walk around, armed, and secure the whole city. The best guards will get raises. The worst ones will get fired. Eventually, you’d have a pretty damn good citizen’s police force protecting everyone and earning some income.

No taxes required.