Tuesday, June 5, 2012

The Growing Police State: Someone *Else* Robbed a Bank Edition

Seriously?  In what world is this a good idea?

Cops in Aurora, Colorado stopped every car at an intersection, arrested every adult there, and searched all the cars for a suspect in a bank robbery.  What.  The.  Hell.  Does no one in the Justice System care about the Constitution any more?  Should I just tattoo the 4th Amendment on my forehead?  What is up, here?

Go read the article, otherwise I'll just reproduce it all here.

This is a blatant violation of the 4th Amendment.  Cops do not get to arrest you because some car in the area might have a bank robber in it.  And, yes, they were arrested.  Arrested is not the same as being booked or being in jail, it means what it says: they were under "arrest."  Had they tried to leave the scene, they would have been in violation of the law.

This quote, by Aurora police officer Frank Fania, explains exactly why the Police State is so dangerous:

"The result of the whole ordeal is that it paid off.  We have arrested and charged a suspect."  No mention that they had arrested at least 18 other people, who then had to be released.  No mention of what that might have done, indeed, probably did, to their schedules.  The search lasted "between an hour and two and a half hours."  So those people whose only crime was driving to the store to buy some ice cream?  Yeah, it melted.  People with appointments?  Yeah, they probably missed them.  This is outrageous.

Every one of the officers involved in this situation, not to mention the Chief of Police should be made to answer for this conduct.  It is an outrage and should not be allowed to stand.

3 comments:

  1. "All animals are equal, but police animals are more equal than others. DoJ officials are even more equal than that!"

    Stuff Orwell might have thought about saying.

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  2. There's no way I would have allowed them to handcuff me and search my car. They would have had to use some sort of force, then book me for resisting arrest. I would have my day in court, and another day for the civil suit I would file.

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    Replies
    1. You should see the one about the HS kids I posted today. But, yes, I agree with you. It's sad that we've gotten to this point.

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