>The first example of a statutory police force in the world was probably the High Constables of Edinburgh, formed in 1611 to police the streets of Edinburgh, then part of the Kingdom of Scotland. The constables, of whom half were merchants and half were craftsmen, were charged with enforcing 16 regulations relating to curfews, weapons, and theft.
That sounds a lot like businesses working with government to secure their property.
Conversely, one of the first recognisably modern police force was Robert Peel's Metropolitan Police, which was explicitly not paramilitary and had (still does) a mandate to police by consent according to what are now called the Peelian Principles which quickly spread all round the country.
This replaced, rather then grew out of, a mishmash of informal local watchmen and constables.
Those 'statutory police' were predated by others by thousands of years, and it seems more like the king enlisted business owners to enforce the king's laws in the city than 'paid security forces of business owners'.
>The first example of a statutory police force in the world was probably the High Constables of Edinburgh, formed in 1611 to police the streets of Edinburgh, then part of the Kingdom of Scotland. The constables, of whom half were merchants and half were craftsmen, were charged with enforcing 16 regulations relating to curfews, weapons, and theft.
That sounds a lot like businesses working with government to secure their property.