In the case of private police, the open question I have is how to align the profit motive with the above goals

We could ask: "Can the profit motive provide adequate incentive so that a private security-providing business will behave close to the way we want?"

It is a fuzzy, open-ended question, and it will be hard to settle on an answer. How close is close enough?

I suggest we ask: "Which model, public or private, gives incentives that result in security-providing organizations behaving more closely to the way we want?"

This is more in line with the claim mk made which inspired the discussion: "governments are demonstrably better agents of policing than NGOs."

I'm curious what your take is on Pinkerton

I see what you mean by "checkered past." But in the same spirit as above, I would ask if a private agency like Pinkerton is better or worse in terms of strikebreaking than similar behavior by police and military forces. If nothing else, at least Pinkerton has to be invited and paid for by somebody. The feds invite themselves, present a more difficult target for legal retaliation, and the bill is sent to taxpayers, whether they like it or not.

I thought it was interesting that in your response to mk, you brought up WalMart, which I'm not sure is best example of corporate responsibility to society.

Suppose we dismiss Wal-Mart's feel-good Community Giving claims about a billion dollars' worth of charity last year as so much propaganda. Wal-Mart provides jobs to over two million people around the world, many of them low-skilled workers with few employment options. Wal-Mart also offers low-cost goods to millions of shoppers, many of whom do not have the budget to shop at fancier outlets.

Wal-Mart deserves much of the credit for the UN's announcement of success in reducing the rate of extreme poverty by half, five years ahead of the 2015 target.

As far as I know, everyone who works for and shops at Wal-Mart does so voluntarily, and nothing prevents them from switching to any alternative they prefer.

Can you name another corporation that has done more to improve the welfare of the world's neediest people?