Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2001 21:15:19 -0500
From: boone@TIMA.COM (Michael Boone)
Subject: Warrant and arrest
To: AZRKBA@asu.edu


At the time of the constitution I doubt that anyone would have thought
about a 285,000,000 population, a lot of which is transient.  The Yuppies
AND the migrant workers move around quite regularly.  And people are
arrested by warrant, unless caught in the act.

The arresting officer was someone known of everyone, for he was elected.
He wasn't like the BATF, FBI, IRS, FMS, etc. we have now days that is
anonymous.

The security of knowing who was arresting you and the charges and all that
stuff was available to the locals, back then.  Now days they send a SWAT
team out to pick you up and you go meekly or you get your ass shot off.

The civility of knowing one and the other has become a historical
curiousity.  And you can rage against the machine all you want, but it
ain't gonna do much good.  I personally feel that the no-knock,
middle-of-the-night arrest is a travsty.  Not worthy of decent people.  An
outrage.  But it's here.

Here where I live you're just as likely to get a call from the Sheriff
tellin' you to come in and surrender.  And he will tell you why and what it
all entails.  But he is elected.  He is not an anonymous law enforcement
machine.

And I sympathize a little bit with the cops.  Yeah, I know.  Boooooo!
Hisssssssss!  But they have no idea from one day to the next who they will
be dealing with.  I know, they hired on for the job and they get the shit
that goes with it.  But you can sure get a twist in your shorts pretty
quick if some deranged asshole gets the brilliant idea that you should be
pushing up daisys for giving him a ticket for doing 85 in a 50.

FWIW,

Michael