I don't think it's a problem with an easy solution though. Activities by private organizations that require a police presence aren't something we want to discourage, but we do want to pass the costs on to the people incurring them.
If I'm putting together a festival in a city park to raise money for cause X (while providing some value to the local denizens), that's a good thing, but the municipality shouldn't have to pay my security costs. It's similar if I need to do construction that will impede a roadway and need a police officer to direct traffic; the cost for those hours should be passed to me, not to the town.
Why does it need to be true police? Why don’t mall cop security guards work? If you needs to hire police it means you are pulling resources away from elsewhere
There are many problems with them being actual police though. Actual police can directly arrest people, and can physically assault people without consequence in many cases. Meanwhile, off-duty or not, assaulting a police officer typically carries much harsher penalties than getting into a fight with ordinary private security.
They aren’t really off duty though. They on duty for hire but the tax payer still pays for their injuries pension and lawsuits. Also they still get get all the protections of someone who is acting on behalf of the state while acting on behalf of a private party
"If I'm putting together a festival in a city park to raise money for cause X (while providing some value to the local denizens), that's a good thing, but the municipality shouldn't have to pay my security costs."
Why not? Are these 200 people that came to donate to my 'save a goat' charity not deserving security? Do they not pay taxes? If they were instead having drinks in a pub, the police could just take a day off?
Where does this lead us, what if you cannot afford to pay, is police going to deliberatly avoid that location?
If I'm putting together a festival in a city park to raise money for cause X (while providing some value to the local denizens), that's a good thing, but the municipality shouldn't have to pay my security costs. It's similar if I need to do construction that will impede a roadway and need a police officer to direct traffic; the cost for those hours should be passed to me, not to the town.