Fire and police protection is just one of many areas in which the market fails to give us an adequate quantity of output and desirable price.
I do not know much about fire departments to know whether or not there are any that are not run by the government. I would think volunteer fire departments are not, but I am still not really sure. As for police protection, there are security companies that are not run by the government. These security companies provide security officers in a variety of places that help protect customers, citizens, etc. There are rules and regulations they have to follow by law just like any other company would, but they would not be considered government employees.
In order to provide this service in an equitable fashion, our government gives different rules and regulations to protect citizens from monopolies, overpaying, unfair treatment, and many other things. If the government did not provide fire and police protection, a fire or police protection “company” may refuse to help someone because they have not paid their property taxes, or because they have to pay for the service up front and the “customer” does not have the money. There are a variety of things they could do.I do not believe there are any alternatives to government intervention in this type of service. The government has a microeconomic role to provide public goods/services such as fire and police protection.
(Perry 1) I believe that, without government intervention, these services could eventually become unattainable for some people. “Government [ . . . ] police do a pretty good job [ . .
. ], and government fire departments and ambulances save lives” (Jared). Although I think some of them would still save lives and do the things they should do because they are truly good people, I do not believe they would all do good.So far, the end result of this government intervention has turned out to be a good thing.
The government regulates both of these departments to both the fire and police departments’ advantage and to the citizens’ advantage. “With micro (local) services that have a ‘free rider problem’ (where if people don’t pay, they still get it, like not paying taxes, but still getting 911 service) like fire and police protection, government management makes sense because there’s a market failure” (Jared). The government has helped with “free-rider problems” that, otherwise, may not have been solved.
