This is probably one of the most important (legally and politically speaking) events to happen in the U.S. this year, but I feel like it will not get very much attention at all and might set a very dangerous precedent going into the next decade.
this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
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Stories about police abusing their authority and breaking the law have become like stories about mass shootings. They happen constantly, everyone wrings their hands, but no one is willing to actually do anything about the problem.
It's what the poorly titled "Defund the Police" movement was/is about. The police serve no other purpose than to harass people and enforce the will of rich and politicians. So they need to be vastly scaled back.
So they need to be vastly scaled back.
Unfortunately, we elected a president who pledged to raise their funding. They're not only corrupt, violent, and out of control, they're getting rewarded for it.
I don't think they serve no other purpose, but they absolutely need to be reduced in size, responsibility, and especially in power. "Defund the Police" was not the best catchphrase for the movement, but the ideas are valid. Abuse of authority is so deeply ingrained in many departments that they probably cannot be reformed. They need to be replaced with new organizations.
We still need organizations to protect citizens from violence and enforce the laws. Our current police only perform the second of those duties and do not do it well. Heavily armed police with paramilitary training and near immunity from the consequences of their actions are not the answer. The training needs to emphasize de-escalation. negotiation, interviewing, and investigation. These people need to be members of their communities and not an outside force of occupation.
In the long run, we need to eliminate their special protections against prosecution. Anyone in a position of authority needs to be held to a higher standard, not a lower one. It will increase the personal risks and make the positions far less attractive, but with fewer people in them I think we will still be able to find people for the job.
And the 98 year old woman whose house they raided just died on Saturday.
Did you mean “razed”?
And yes, it’s awful.
They likely meant “raided”
Oh, yes you are probably right. My mistake.
No, they meant raided.
Thank you. Pre-coffee reading comprehension issues here.
While this is otherwise pretty great reporting, I found this sentence incredibly weird
Without the devices, she was left unable to stream shows onto her TV or use devices if she needed help, the newspaper said.
One of those things is significantly more important than the other, since she died shortly after this raid. Just a weird sentence overall.
Not that weird if we're talking about the quality of life of a 98 year old woman. "Healthy" at that age might look like spending a great deal of time in your favorite chair watching your favorite shows on the television. After almost a century on this planet, you get a little tired.
That's a good point! Hadn't considered it.
"If I can't watch Andy Griffith this life ain't worth livin."
Local authorities said they were investigating the newsroom for "identity theft," according to the warrant. The raid was linked to alleged violations of a local restaurant owner's privacy, when journalists obtained information about her driving record.
Oberlander said exceptions to the Privacy Protection Act are "important but very limited." One such exception allows authorities to raid a newsroom if the journalists themselves are suspected to be involved in the crime at hand. In a statement sent to NPR, Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody cited this exception to justify his department's raid of the Marion County Record.
However
Several media law experts told NPR the raid appears to be a violation of federal law, which protects journalists from this type of action.
Meyer, the Marion County Record's publisher, said local restaurateur Kari Newell accused the paper of illegally obtaining drunk-driving records about her.
But the paper, Meyer said, received this information about Newell from a separate source, independently verified it on the Kansas Department of Revenue's Division of Vehicles website — and decided not to publish it. The paper instead opted to notify local police.
Here’s their justification - they found out about a business owner’s drunk driving records, and told the police. The police decided this was “identity theft”.
A bit of cherry picking there
But Oberlander said that exception doesn't apply when the alleged crime is connected to newsgathering — which appears to be the case in Marion.
In America, there’s big city police. Then there is rural county police. The latter have the potential to get away with so much blatant violation of local/state/federal law. Checks and balances of power is nonexistent.
Doesn’t help that journalists and local newspapers have either vacated the region or bought by some VC/PE or larger media organization which guts the IJ division