Counterpunch has an excellent piece up on the New York City police and wall street's cozy relationship / revolving door.
Especially regarding 'white shirts'.
And, especially something called the "PDU" - the Paid Detail Unit.
The corporations pay an average of $37 an hour (no medical, no pension benefit, no overtime pay) for a member of the NYPD, with gun, handcuffs and the ability to arrest. The officer is indemnified by the taxpayer, not the corporation.
New York City gets a 10 percent administrative fee on top of the $37 per hour paid to the police. The City’s 2011 budget called for $1,184,000 in Paid Detail fees, meaning private corporations were paying wages of $11.8 million to police participating in the Paid Detail Unit. The program has more than doubled in revenue to the city since 2002.
Read the whole thing here:
http://www.counterpunch.org/...
It's an amazing piece. Note also the bio of the author: she worked on wall street for more than 2 decades.
I have to admit, as jaded as I am, even I'm shocked at this.
Here's something else:
Paid Detail Unit
Any outside offduty paid police work must receive prior approval of the Reserve Commander. Reserve officers would be eligible to participate in the New York City Police Department's Paid Detail Unit.
http://www.nycop.com/...
Emphasis added.
This refers to NYC police reserve, who are often retired NYC cops, but can be anyone at all who meets the various age and other requirements. Note that reserves do carry guns and wear armor.