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Woman With Police-Monitoring Blog Arrested
Kris Thalamus writes "The Washington Post reports that a Virginia woman is being held in custody by police who allege that information she posted on her blog puts members of the Jefferson area drug enforcement task force at risk. 'In a nearly year-long barrage of blog posts, she published snapshots she took in public of many or most of the task force's officers; detailed their comings and goings by following them in her car; mused about their habits and looks; hinted that she may have had a personal relationship with one of them; and, in one instance, reported that she had tipped off a local newspaper about their movements. Predictably, this annoyed law enforcement officials, who, it's fair to guess, comprised much of her readership before her arrest. But what seems to have sent them over the edge — and skewed their judgment — is Ms. Strom's decision to post the name and address of one of the officers with a street-view photo of his house. All this information was publicly available, including the photograph, which Ms. Strom gleaned from municipal records.'"
I think she did right. I agree that it is unfair for the targeted policemen, but she tested the invasive laws' safeguards. Policemen can exchange private data with impunity. She shows that we can't exchange public data without troubles. There is one theory that says that the privacy invasion that the police is authorized to do is balanced by the public scrutiny they are under. This event is a counter argument to this theory.
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
This is pure manure. It is in the public interest to know what the police are doing.
Despite what I'd characterise as the reasonableness of the OP's position, I'm afraid I agree with your first statement.
As for the public interest argument, there's no doubt merit in it, but that's not to say that there shouldn't be limitations to what the public needs to know. I've had look at the woman's blog. Amusing to the casual reader, but it does appear to come close to the line of what should be considered acceptable, or legal. If it isn't, then I'd expect some justification for why it isn't, rather than a simple assertion by police sargeant.
My own opinion is that laws concerning police officers are over-broad, and are easily abused. I'd also wager that they're regularly abused. The indicident that led to the recent Obama Beer Summit is a good example where we can see how being disrespectful to a cop gets elevated to the crime of interfering with the duties of a police officer. Physical training, automatic weapons and kevlar vests protects against sticks and stones, but the officer is unable to deal with being called a bad name?
The law enforcement officers KNEW they had a family when they signed up for this job.
This is why most civilian and military police action that involves heavy risk, is often done by people with no family, or SUFFICIENT barriers are put into place to conceal their identity. The poor decisions by the officers, as well as the department as a whole as it relates to assessment of risk, is the only thing that can put these officers, or their families at risk.
I cannot speak for her motives, but this task force seems to be using the threat of terrorism as a pretext to expand its operations beyond the investigation of drug trafficking. The task force also works with the FBI, which has been known to secretly engage in questionable activities in past, as part of efforts to fight "terrorism" or "communism." That is enough to get me suspicious, although I am not sure that I would go as far as this lady did.
Palm trees and 8
Sorry, no. If the police think that they have the right to track us 24/7 whenever we are in a public place with cameras up on every corner, we also have the right to follow them around 24/7 and record everything they do. They don't get to have it both ways.
-- Give me ambiguity or give me something else!
It's necessary. Cops, especially undercover cops, are some of the most criminally bent people out there. They protect certain drug gangs and act as enforcers against their opposition. They engage in burglaries and assassinations. They run shakedown scams against petty dealers. They infiltrate legitimate non violent political organizations and try to foment violence at demonstrations (that's about as mean and rotten and crooked as it gets IMO). And EVERY cop out there knows that the drug business wouldn't even be possible without corrupt cops, judges and high level bureaucrats, and it goes right to the top of the federal government in certain agencies.
And whenever they get caught, they are always so quick to say "oh, just a few bad apples", etc. Bullshit. Google has thousands of hits on police corruption. Today..a few good apples in whole barrels of rotten ones. The US is this freeking close to second and third world status when it comes to this, complete with death squads and "disappearing" squads. When they start covering their faces and making it illegal to get pictures and they cover their badges and just mumble "security" for everything they do..you are that close.
I've known and interacted with a *lot* of cops because of a previous job which I won't ge into. After awhile they sort of forget you aren't a cop and let their guard down and speak to you just like they speak to their fellow cops, or they aren't as careful and you can overhear their conversations with each other. Damn SCARIEST crap you will ever hear, unless you have lived someplace with an active war going on and the local warlord turns his cops loose on the people. We are *that* close to that now.
They are not your friend, they have no interest in following any laws themselves, they really are out to get all they can and to hell with any constitution or "laws", and will use every tactic they can come up with to protect their criminal guild, their gang, because it is them versus everyone else and you are just a target and a resource to exploit. You are the enemy, it is that simple. If you aren't a cop, you are the enemy.
There's a few that are honest and so on, I've met them too, but they are an extreme minority. Most who start honest and want to stay honest quit and get out of that work as soon as they find out how bad it really is, and how it really is has nothing to do with this public picture they try to project. It is way closer to paramilitary robbery and death squads now than it is to the "officer friendly" crap they claim in public all the time.
Want to make the drug scene less violent? That's so easy it's ridiculous. Get rid of the stupid anti drug laws and admit reality. You wouldn't even need "undercover drug warriors" then. Once the huge illegal cash profits are removed, the crime and violence drops way down. This was proven back during Prohibition, completely 100% proven, and we had the same rise of corrupt violent cops back then, protecting the big bootleggers. Exactly the same.
But you won't see the cop gangs wanting that, because they profit from it in huge sums of cash (look at what they drive and where they live, then look up local pay scales..see anything screwy there? Completely blatant that most are on the take) plus they get to be violence addicts legally (most have a natural bully instinct, you'd have to be blind to not see this) and get away with it.
Now I am the first one to say that theoretically we need cops, but I also will say we do not need the way that system is now.
Right now, to help reform all of this we need two things badly: the federal government needs to really enforce the illegal immigration laws on the books, including the provisions of fining the employers. And we need to decriminalize drugs, at least have them be legal and under some similar regulations as alcohol. That would do more to help to bring policing back to community policing than anything else. Well, three things, we need to abandon the concept of police as military, starting with their military styled ranking system and conduct. Cops are NOT the military and even letting them get close to being the military is a terrible and harmful idea.