In a little-known city program that critics say may be unconstitutional, cops join fire and building inspectors as they enter homes without a warrant and then arrest residents if they find anything illegal. [More]Hey, if you've got nothing to hide, what's the problem?
Oh...
But that's OK--this is Oakland. It's not like it's America or anything.
[Via Mack H]
5 comments:
Standard procedure in the city near me, for, I don't know, 10 years now. The surrounding counties have wisely refrained. I don't know why people tolerate it.
Interestingly, public officials sometimes are hazy on what's actual ILLEGAL and what they just disagree with personally
Are you orthodox enough, comrade? If they see The War on Guns or Sipsey Street Irregulars on your computer monitor, probably not.
That particular story raises a question for me.
Being as Freedom if more valuable than life, as evidenced by the singers of the founding documents, is it moral to defend that freedom and those right being violated by deadly force?
I think it would be simple enough to rig spring guns and man-traps to terminally dissuade any violation of the fourth amendment.
it is absolutely undeniable that when police can do anything they want without warrant, probable cause or consent, that competing criminals can be put out of business. It is also undeniable that liberty is also put out of business because of the lack of rights for all the innocent citizens.
I choose to live with the burdens of at large criminals if my only other option is to live in a police state.
The Fourth Amendment guarantees that each person be "secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures". It doesn't say a thing about a landlord being able to give permission for a search of a domicile not his own. The cops know this; they don't care.
It's official: Oakland is not a part of America anymore.
Unless it is an emergency, even the firemen and building inspectors need warrants. The local thugs did a "neighborhood" clean up where they would send an inspector and a cop around houses in blighted areas to scare up some fine money. They asked for the right to enter, but if the homeowner refused, they admitted they were powerless to enter without a warrant. They threatened in the story to get warrants, never heard if anyone refused them or not.
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