&gt; You continue to fallaciously claim that absent a public police force businesses would do nothing to stop theft.<p>They will do something to stop theft, and this <i></i>something<i></i> will cost money. It will cost insurance, it will cost security cameras, or security guards.<p>And these costs will be passed onto the consumer by the store raising prices.<p>IE: Consumer loses. Business lose. Thieves win.<p>Market failure in a nutshell.<p>&gt; Furthermore you fallaciously claim that a public police force would stop thefts<p>On the contrary. I suggest the police force as a deterrence. They help fix the problem, but the costs of a perfect police force are too great (both in civil liberties and in monetary costs).<p>So in practice, we settle for a medium were enough thieves get caught to deter crime, but not all thieves are caught.