NBC sends armed guards to lawless Gulf Coast - Yahoo! News: "NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - NBC News has sent private
security personnel to the increasingly dicey Gulf Coast region
to help keep its employees safe while covering the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina.

The private security officers, usually former soldiers or
police, are licensed to carry firearms and are trained to keep
the situation under control so that journalists can do their
jobs safely. That's becoming increasingly difficult in New
Orleans and in Gulfport, Miss., where there aren't enough
police or National Guardsmen to keep the streets safe."

I can't even begin to list all the pieces of "the future is going to suck" fiction that I've read that include public service tasks like policing and medical care being taken over by the private sector...