Posted by panch from pool0042.cvx20-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net (209.179.250.42) on Saturday, July 06, 2002 at 4:30PM :
Three years ago there was a shooting in San Francisco. Police officers maintained they were forced to shoot at a car whose driver was wanted on a warrant, and who refused to stop when told to. A young woman was killed in the hail of bullets the officers poured into the car...no one else had a gun. There were suspicions right away and just this week it was decided that both officers had lied...there had been no attempted getaway at all.
The Police review board is insisting the officers be chagfed and tried.
That was before 9/11.
There is a love fest going on in this country with the police, who are being seen as our greatest defenders and guards, standing between us, our families and children and who knows what sort of menace out there.
If you add up the National Guard, State Troopers, Highway Patrols, Sherrifs, Marshalls, cops, Detectives, FBI, CIA...special SWAT teams...BATF...and various narcotics cops...you've got a sizeable State Police force out here...oh yeah, and campus police.
If that same crime were to happen today, I doubt there would be as much public scrutiny as back then...back when we knew that Cops often are loose cannons. Now...as they'll never tire of reminding us, we want them to protect us...yet we want them to follow the rules ALL the time? Do we want to "tie their hands" like that...REALLY. "Watch Out, there's a terrorist in your soup!"
This is a troubling side effect of this campaign to create a new Communist type threat for us. We know damn well the FBI and the whole lot of them have broken laws repeatedly in the past...and with this much expanded power...and our level of paranoia increasing...we may just yet manage to Terrorize ourselves more than anyone ever would have bothered us if we'd watched our Oily politicians in the first place...a little vigillance goes a long way...a lot farther than a lot of Vigilantes will...depending of course on where you want to go.
It's safe in jail, sort of.
Oh yeah...and don't forget boys and girls...this time the enemy is...US.
-- panch
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