"No one goes to the mall and wants to see the crack of someone's butt."Probably true in general. But for God's sake, Palm Beach "Only Ones" needed "20 deputies, two canine units and a police helicopter" to deal with it?
Are they truly that afraid? And is that the kind of mentality we want running around confronting people while armed to the teeth with "weapons of war"?
[Via Mack]
7 comments:
That outrageous. And becoming commonplace. For some background on this growing problem with our domestic policing, check out Radley Balko's white paper Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America.
The Palm Beach taxpayers must be thrilled with the wise use of their money. Not, of course, that the expense is the major issue here, but it might be enough to annoy some who would otherwise ignore it.
Ten to one says they were that scared because whatever policy the cops have about helping the mall enforce its dress code is based on the idea that for every so many wannabe kids they run in for Possession of Inappropriate Pants they'll catch some hard-core gangsta who made the mistake of showing his true colors at the mall.
Sorta the same idea as a cop who pulls you over for having a broken turn signal, but is hoping there'll be a trunkload of blow in the back between the blueprints of the Sears Tower and the phone number for the guy with the Semtex.
The mall is just as guilty as the cops in my book. I just sent them this message:
"I just read this story: "Baggy jeans at mall drag family to jail" on the Palm Beach Post web site with great disgust. What kind of cowards and losers are you to call more than two dozen cops to intimidate a teenager and his family? I don't think I'll ever set foot in your town after reading this; but if - God forbid - I ever do, I will not visit your mall and spend a single dime there. And I will make a point of telling all of my friends about what you did, and make sure that they never visit your mall also."
resisting arrest with violence can be nothing more than pulling free when hands are laid upon you, resisting without violence, who the Hell knows? Maybe telling them they shouldn't do what they are doing?
However, from the response shown by law enforcement here, I can't figure why they keep whining that people are fighting back more often and more effectively. They're the ones who declared the war.
This was all just a big misunderstanding. The cops thought they said "selling crack" instead of "showing crack".
This is another one of those "My property, My rules" situations. I agree with the right to control behaviour on your own property, but the response was certainly overkill.
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