The Men in Black

I’ve said it before, tyranny will enter this country not at a federal level but at the local level. And the people who are more than happy to bring it to you will be the police.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Springfield’s men in black are returning.

The city’s new police commissioner, William Fitchet, says members of the department’s Street Crime Unit will again don black, military-style uniforms as part of his strategy to deal with youth violence.

Fitchet’s predecessor, Edward Flynn, had ditched the black attire as part of an effort to soften the image of the unit. Flynn left Springfield in January to become the police chief in Milwaukee.

Sgt. John Delaney told a city council hearing Wednesday that the stark uniforms send a message to criminals that officers are serious about making arrests.

Delaney said a sense of “fear” has been missing for the past few years.

We do not need to fear the police. Criminals need to fear getting caught and the repercussions of the law, but being that citizens can enforce the law, that fear shouldn’t be an image of a man in black with scary weapons.

Crime is a problem for many reasons, none of which involve making the police into jackbooted thugs. If it were possible to only cause fear into the hearts of the criminals then I would say go for it, but you can’t. Instead, the public is left with cops who’s image is made to strike fear into their hearts as well.

Is this what we want? For the police to expect us to fear them? How much more authority do we need to give them to do their jobs? Why is it that the common American thinks that the law only belongs in the hands of police when it is we the people who grant them that right? How can we grant them something that isn’t ours to give?

So many Americans are so non self reliant that they continuously give up more and more authority to the state to try to maintain their lifestyle. Instead of protecting themselves, they rely on others to do it. But now, those who have been given so much authority are beginning to see themselves as the masters, and it is apparent that they want to make sure you know it as well. Is this what we really want?

Besides, if the police really wanted to put fear into the hearts of the citizenry, maybe they should dress like clowns instead.

Report here

Update:

Hazel the hormonal hippopotamus has demanded in most abusive terms that I delete the above article but as she is not the author of it, I do not see that she has any standing in the matter. She would certainly now have to apologize for her egregious abuse before I deleted it. I have the feeling that apologies are not one of her talents though.

"The line is here" is a libertarian blog, as is this one, so one would think that libertarians would make an effort to be polite to one-another. It would however appear that politeness is just not one of the talents of Hazel Stone. Or should that be "Stoned Hazel"? She sure sounds like it at times. Was the original Hazel Stone in Heinlein stoned? I don't know. It is many years since I read Heinlein.

For no very clear reason, the Hazy Harridan threatened that she was going to email lots of people and tell them what a bad egg I am. The idea was apparently that they would write to me to demand things. Well, so far I have had not a single communication from anyone about my blog. So I suspect that I am not the only one who is unimpressed and unmoved by blowhards.

I guess that the pseudonymous Hazel fancies herself as a Heinlein character. Libertarians tend to like many of Heinlein's scenarios. But I wonder does Hazel know that, to many children, Hazel is the name of a hippopotamus? Not such a flattering image! But I suspect that Hazel is too sour to have had children so she would not know much about children's books.

Bussorah is of course an Indian name. I wonder if "Hazel" is prejudiced against brown-skinned people? That would be consistent with her remarks so far. I gather that, for Hazel, the line is nowhere. The f-bombs in the language she has directed at me would certainly suggest that. Foul language is not the sign of a fine mind.

(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today)