Call me a liberal leftie socialist (actually, I wasn't always. When I first studied economics I was pretty conservative) but....

It has become highly newsworthy recently that due to austerity measures in the UK, and due to slashed budgets in the police finances, certain UK police forces are considering outsourcing police work to private companies. 

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but private companies are answerable to stakeholders (shareholders) who demand profit. First and foremost, companies are interested in making profit. With a company sourced with investigating or doing whatever police work they are tasked with then doing a good service is only secondary to making profit. in other words (as in the philosophy of morality) the objective of giving good investigative service is derived to making profit. The service is the means to the profit ends.

Police work is important. It affects real lives in very real ways. I just can't see that outsourcing to the private sector is in the best interests to the general public and to a very sensitive sector. This seems like the sort of move that is the province of a conservative, right-wing government. However, this seems to be coming from the police themselves. This makes me wonder if the police are suggesting this to enforce a reaction from the public and other parties so that they are given back their funding. Could be a cunning tactic!

The main point I am trying to make is that there are certain sectors of government that should not be the realm of the private sector. Law enforcement and policing is certainly such a sector.