They took Sidney's toy away

The whole enterprise is a waste in so many ways but it is at least a little bit fun to watch Batman throw a fit about not begin allowed to play Batman anymore.

Torres was known to bird-dog his squad and gripe loudly when he found officers slacking off. He was paying them $50 an hour at the time and expected his money’s worth. Simms said he leaves it mostly to the NOPD to discipline their own. He said he’ll boot officers from the program only if they twice fail to show up for a shift without calling.

“You have to recognize — Sidney, myself, anybody — these police officers do not take direction from us. My job is not to supervise the officers. These officers are taking their direction from the NOPD 8th District sergeant,” Simms said.

That’s not what Torres quite envisioned when he created the patrols as a nimble answer to crime troubles in the city’s six-by-13-block historic heart as the number of New Orleans police officers kept falling.

Torres said he set out to show the city how to bring accountability to the NOPD by closely tracking officers on patrol — doing policing as a business. The mobile app got more public attention, but real-time GPS tracking was always the bigger deal, said Torres, who now fears his task force has fallen victim to lax oversight.

The most dangerous aspect of the whole quasi-privatized police adventure is that it takes this comic book notion that the only way to achieve law and order is by empowering one ass-kicking rich dude to make everything work.  It was almost funny back when Ed Blakely was playing this role in urban planning.  It's less funny when the fascist dude gets to play policeman.   But since we're also flirting with idea of electing one President right now, none of this should shock us.