Category Archives: Police & Law Enforcement

Government Overzealousness in Texas — Again

April 17, 2008 – 10:44 am

In Texas, do they arrest every man in town when an anonymous caller claims she was beaten and raped by her husband? Or round up all the women in town and place them in protective custody? I think not. Do they collect all the children in town based on a tip that one has been physically abused? Well, probably not — yet. But that is essentially what the Texas government did at the FLDS compound in Eldorado.

I’m going on record. The FLDS raid will blow up in the Texas Child Protective Service’s face like the Waco raid did in Janet Reno’s face — but maybe not literally this time.

It’s not apparent that they have any real specific evidence of abuse other than the existence of pregnant teenage girls. But what town can you go to in this country and not be able to find pregnant teenage girls? Even if the authorities are holding some evidence, what is the likelihood that it applies to every child (or adult) in the compound?

The state took custody of all the toddlers. Did they think the toddlers were in imminent danger of being taken to the (spiritual) marriage bed? The state took custody of all the boys. Did they think the boys were any more likely to be abused than any other boy in the state? (I’d be surprised if the FLDS tolerates homosexuals.) Did they justify taking them because they thought the boys were being trained to become abusers?  If so, a raid on any church in the state that, for example, teaches boys that they will be the head of their households and that a woman’s place is in the home is not that far away.

How can Texas apply such a broad brush to this problem without violating the individual constitutional rights of the children and their parents? I can see that Texas had the right to investigate the call from the 16-year-old girl. But even if they found some evidence of abuse of specific children during the investigation, I don’t see how they could legally take children that weren’t being abused. I see lots of law suits coming.

Don’t get me wrong. I have little sympathy for the adult members of that cult. I’m thinking about all those little children who have been torn away from their parents. I don’t believe the stories about the kids not knowing who their parents are. They’ve been taught to keep details of their lives secret. Anyway, if what we hear in the news is correct, kids not knowing their daddies is becoming the norm across the country.

Update: This has happened before, and it turned out pretty much like I’m thinking this incident will. Read CNN’s account of a similar raid in 1953.

By Carson Sasser | Also posted in Child Abuse, Nanny State | Comments (0) |

Another Common Sense Deficiency

July 17, 2007 – 9:22 am

It seems that the ability to apply a little common sense is severely lacking in this country. A couple of days ago an airline prevented an eight-year-old boy from flying home because his very common name was on the TSA’s no-fly list. Yesterday Michael Fekete was arrested in Massachusetts for “stuffing” his two young daughters into the trunk of his car. Read the AP report here and watch the MyFoxBoston.com video here.

Creates a horrible image in your mind doesn’t it? A father stuffing his nine- and eleven-year-old daughters in the trunk, slamming the lid shut and driving off in 90 degree heat. Except that it didn’t happen that way. Fekete says that it was just a game. He says that the girls were curious about whether the light in the trunk turns off when the lid is closed and wanted to get inside to find out. The girls crawled inside on their own and he held the lid closed without locking it for a few seconds and then let them out. A witness, probably the one that called the cops, admitted that after closing the lid on the children he let them out and put them in the back seat.

But because of this harmless little experiment the children were taken from Fekete and he has to appear in court in Massachusetts. What is this world coming to? What kind of person calls the police over an incident like this? Parents now must watch their backs anytime they appear in public with their children. They can’t just depend on their own judgment, they have to consider the judgment of all those around them.

What law was broken that allowed the police to arrest Fekete? Probably child endangerment — another of those laws that mean whatever the ‘authorities’ want it to mean at any given time. Is transporting the children in a car from Washington DC to Massachusetts not child endangerment?

Why didn’t the policeman on the scene just let Fekete go after seeing how harmless the incident was? Probably to cover his ass. The person who reported the incident would most likely make trouble for him if he didn’t make an arrest.

We are headed toward a nanny state. Not only does government want to look after you, it wants to raise your children too. How long will it be before every parent has to periodically deliver their children to some ‘authority’ for an evaluation of their progress and the parents’ child-rearing abilities? How long before ‘authorities’ will periodically examine your home to see if it meets their standards? I’m sure Mr Fekete will be subjected to that for several years now.

How long before our free an open society is in the toilet?

By Carson Sasser | Also posted in Freedom, Nanny State | Comments (0) |

No Sympathy for Paris Hilton, but…

June 8, 2007 – 7:34 am

I have no sympathy for Paris Hilton’s plight, but if similar offenses by tens of thousands of illegal immigrants were given the same amount of attention this country would be a lot safer.

Typically, illegals just pack up and move to another area after being arrested and charged with some offense and then released on their own recognizance or on bond. Little effort is made to locate these fugitives and bring them to justice. Is this because we don’t consider their behavior to be correctable? Or that they are just not worth our effort? After all, they have already demonstrated that they have no respect for our laws simply by coming here.

I have a problem with deer eating the vegetables in my garden. Knowing that I’m not going to be able to change the innate foraging nature of the deer there are at least two things I can do to ensure that I will be able to harvest enough vegetables for my household. One is to build a deer-proof fence around my garden. The other is to grow enough vegetables for my household and the deer. I have found the latter to be the most practical.

In other words I have decided to just accept the cost of the foraging deer rather than try to change their nature. That’s because I know they are just animals. Are we demeaning the illegal immigrants by not holding them accountable for their actions? Are we treating them like they are less than human?

By Carson Sasser | Also posted in Immigration | Comments (0) |

The BATFECBAKCSS?

May 9, 2007 – 7:28 am

In following the Alabama Free Militia thing I noticed that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is apparently now called the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  How long will it take for it to become the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives, Crossbows, Bows, Arrows, Knives, Clubs and Sharp Sticks?

By Carson Sasser | Also posted in Government Regulation, Gun Control | Comments (2) |

Alabama Free Militia Busted

May 2, 2007 – 6:27 pm

Fox News has an article about the Feds arresting some men in Alabama for planning a machine gun attack on Mexicans. A federal agent said that the men call themselves the Alabama Free Militia. These very well might be some really bad guys who intended to harm some Mexicans, but I tend to be suspicious of cases like this. They might also be guys who went way overboard in preparing to protect themselves from what they see as potential threats. And who really knows what ‘overboard’ is in these days of terrorism and out-of-control illegal immigration?

The evidence, as reported by Fox, raises a lot of questions:

A federal agent testified they found two rooms loaded with guns and possible explosives components, including fireworks, ball bearings, primers, mouse traps, light bulbs and fertilizer.

Mouse traps? Light bulbs? As far as I know, every item listed is legal in Alabama. Notice that the agent said “possible explosives components.” I would venture a guess that most residents of Alabama have mouse traps, light bulbs and fertilizer that are not used as explosives components. A few may have some loose ball bearings in their tool sheds.

I don’t live in Alabama but I have every item on the list, except fireworks, in my workshop right now. I also have a couple of cans of gun powder. And some gun parts. (Whoops! Now the feds are probably going to come after me.) Years ago I used to hand load shotgun shells for skeet shooting and rifle cartridges for target practice and deer hunting. I haven’t researched the laws in that area recently, but as far as I know all that stuff is still legal.

The five are charged with conspiring to make a firearm.

I didn’t know that it was illegal to make a firearm, much less conspire to make one. I never made a gun myself but I knew back then of people who did. Perhaps they had a license or something. If I discussed with friends a desire to make a gun now could I be charged with a federal crime?

Nesmith (a federal agent) said one of the men told an informant that the group, which calls itself the Alabama Free Militia, saw government agents as “the enemy” and had a standing order to open fire if anyone saw government agents approaching.

Notice that he is getting this information from an informant, not from an undercover federal agent. We all know how reliable informants are. Is the informant a current or former member of the group with a grudge? Who knows!

I’m going to try to follow this case and see how it turns out.

By Carson Sasser | Also posted in Crime and Violence | Comments (0) |

Cartoon Characters Terrorizing Boston

February 1, 2007 – 10:10 am

It’s all over the news.  Some marketing company promoting a late-night cartoon on the Cartoon Network placed a bunch of blinking lighted signs around Boston, causing the police to call out the bomb squads and block off major parts of the city. Now the police have arrested two of the sign installers and are calling for the heads of Cartoon Network and Turner Broadcasting executives. Translation: We are so embarassed that we didn’t know the difference between a battery and a bomb that we have to make more out of this than common sense dictates.

Nine other cities dealt with the signs without creating a furor. In fact, some of them did nothing about the signs until Boston converted them into a security crisis. Apparently cooler heads are running the police departments of those cities. I can understand that a large city woldn’t want people going around sticking up lighted signs wherever they like. Fining the perpetrators might be in order, but arresting the lowest level hired help won’t be an effective deterrent.

While I do believe that Boston overreacted, there is at least one question that authorities need to try to answer: Is the marketing company itself responsible for the frantic calls from citizens about the signs? Did they calculate that this would be a cheap way to gain a lot of publicity for the show even if they or Turner had to pay a fine? The signs were in place in Boston and the other cities for a couple of weeks before the reaction.

By Carson Sasser | Comments (1) |

Fugitive Roundup

November 3, 2006 – 7:04 pm

Fox News reports that 10,733 fugitives were rounded up in a sweep led by the US Marshals Service. The operation covered 24 eastern states and lasted six days beginning on October 22. State and local law enforcement officers aided the marshals. About 3,000 officers were involved. Sweeps of this type were previously conducted in April 2005 and April 2006.

Are you wondering what all these law enforcement people were doing between April and October? Apparently not finding and arresting fugitives from justice. Why else would there be an almost 11,000 fugitive backlog? Was the fugitive roundup season closed? Or was October just a really high crime month?

Let’s examine the numbers a little closer. About 3,000 officers arrested about 11,000 fugitives in six days. That’s less than 4 fugitive arrests per officer, or just a little better than one arrest per officer every two days. The Marshals Service is crowing about that?

Who wants to bet me that at least 80 percent of them won’t be back on the street within a week?

By Carson Sasser | Comments (0) |