Summer won’t be here much longer and most of our “News To Make You Furious” staff still haven’t had their vacations, so we kicked them out the door this month for some much-needed relaxation. Now they’re out raging on the road, grumbling about traffic, complaining about food, and angrily stomping around the country looking for things to be indignant about. Good times! But don’t worry; if you’ve come here for your monthly measure of mortification they left something for you to munch on…
August brought the one-year anniversary of the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. One of the questions asked by almost every talking head was “have things changed in Ferguson”? The residents didn’t seem to think so, but perhaps they could have asked the reporters in t
urn, “how much did you expect to change”? Nothing could change in Ferguson because the problems aren’t local… Ferguson is just one festering example of a disease slowly eating our country. Our Vacation Vexation this month won’t deal with Ferguson, but with the larger problem of which Ferguson is only a symptom… the metamorphosis of our police from a “protect and serve” organization to an occupying force. Here are several items from our past “Your Car Matters” Feature articles, Book Spotlight column, and of course News To Make You Furious that will give you an up-close look at the real problem in Ferguson and beyond…
“Prison for Profit- The Low Price Of Your Liberty”
“Your Car Matters”, “News To Make You Furious” Column, Mar 2013 and Dec 2013
Profit is great. Enlightened self-interest is a spectacular motivator that drives our economic system. Nothing incentivizes a behavior like making it profitable in one form or another. But here’s a blasphemy… profit is not the only good in our world! Other things are important as well, and some may be even more important than profit.
Liberty is one of those things. Short of life itself, nothing is as valuable to a human being as liberty. It’s so important that the power to send people to prison is limited to our government, and then only after a complex due process. “Justice”, as this quaint idea was once called, is one of the six things our founders said our country was created to establish. So what happens when it becomes profitable to deprive people of their liberty? When liberty clashes with profit, which one wins?
“Playing ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ For Real”
“Your Car Matters”, “News To Make You Furious” Column, Sep 2014
In the cartoon world of “Dukes of Hazzard”, Boss Hogg ran Hazzard County with a comically pudgy iron hand. The County was his fiefdom, and Sherriff Roscoe P. Coltrane his goofy but strongarm enforcer. The law was a fig leaf to be worn (or not) as it suited the Boss’s greed. Hilarity ensued.
In the real world, towns, cities, states, and even the Feds have a powerful tool to create their own little extortionary fiefdoms in a previously free country… Civil Asset Forfeiture. This charming idea takes advantage of a “loophole” in the basic concepts of justice going back to the Magna Carta. When the State takes action against YOU, YOU have rights and the STATE must prove you’re guilty before your property can be seized. That’s criminal law. Civil Asset Forfeiture is based in civil law, so the State goes after your PROPERTY instead of you, shifting the burden of proof to YOU because your property has no rights. Roscoe gets complete authority to seize your property based on such criminally suspicious behavior as “having an air freshener hanging from your mirror”. YOU have to pay for an attorney to PROVE your property wasn’t involved in illegal activity, and the person deciding if you’ve proved your case is Boss Hogg. Hilarity does NOT ensue…
“How Much Ya Got” becomes “Gimme More”!
“Your Car Matters” Feature article, Sep 2014
Riot police and SWAT cops were the public face of government in Ferguson, but they weren’t the only source of friction. Fergusonians have for years been preyed upon by a judicial system not designed to dispense justice but to fund municipal government on the backs of the poorest citizens. Municipal court fines are the second highest source of revenue in Ferguson, overwhelmingly targeting low-income people who become trapped in a cycle of unpaid tickets, arrest warrants, and fines. Courts in Ferguson, a city of 21,135 people, issued 24,532 warrants in 2013, or three warrants per household. A court system that can’t be trusted by the people is nothing more than oppression under color of justice but again, like the militarization of Ferguson’s police, this is not just an isolated problem in a small Missouri town. It is representative of a pattern in municipalities across the country, and it’s something every citizen should know about…
“You Have The Right To Be Pacified”
“Your Car Matters” Feature article, Sep 2014
There’s an old theater saying that if there’s a gun on the mantle in a play’s first act, it will be used by the third act. For years, police around the country have been stocking their mantles with body armor, batons, tear gas, shotguns, automatic weapons, and armored vehicles. The Battle in Seattle, Occupy, Ferguson, and thousands of smaller, unnamed actions around the country are sounding a loud warning… the mantle is full, and the third act in this drama could be pretty ugly…
“Rise of the Warrior Cop”
In “Rise of the Warrior Cop”, Balko shows how politicians’ ill-considered policies and relentless declarations of war against vague enemies like crime, drugs, and terror have blurred the distinction between cop and soldier. His fascinating, frightening narrative shows how over a generation, a creeping battlefield mentality has isolated and alienated American police officers and put them on a collision course with the values of a free society.
“SWAT Madness”
“SWAT Madness” looks at the realities of zero-tolerance, militaristic policing, the tactics and equipment used, the problematic “crime warrior” mindset at play, and the statistical evidence of its ineffectiveness. The author’s professional experience enables him to candidly address common concerns about utilizing paramilitary law enforcement and special weapons and tactics (SWAT) units in routine, low-risk police work, such as the general loss of freedom, the often tragic results of excessive force, and the effects on race relations.
