2024 WASHINGTON FREE BEACON MAN OF THE YEAR: The Squatter Hunter.

After watching, waiting, and studying the squatters’ daily routines, the Squatter Hunter (as [“Flash”] Shelton is known) goes into action: He’ll change the locks, install ring cameras, and film the squatters while threatening to embarrass them on the internet. If that doesn’t work, he will move in with five or six other friends and, in his words, “turn it into a reality show.” He’ll even do “renovations” involving chainsaws. (Our strategy would have involved several cans of baked beans.)

Shelton, an ex-bouncer, is quick to remind homeowners to document encounters and never go alone. He carries a Glock and is experienced with deescalation tactics (he also wears a baseball cap that says “Get Out”). As Shelton told John Stossel, “They are not homeless people. They’re criminals. They’re people that are taking advantage of the system.”

Until now. Earlier this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill ending squatters’ rights in Florida. Standing behind the governor was Flash Shelton, the Squatter Hunter himself and, now, a 2024 Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year.

In California, the Squatter Hunter is increasingly necessary to take back legal property, and at the start of the year, the Daily Caller noted that: Crime Has Gotten So Bad In Oakland That Companies Are Now Paying For Security Escorts To Protect Employees.

As Glenn has written, “the breakdown of law and order won’t go as [leftists] hope. Ultimately, the police are there to protect criminals from the populace, not the other way around. Get rid of the police, and armed vigilantism is what you’ll get. And what you’ll deserve.”

See also, the rise of private security forces in Detroit, over a decade ago: