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MSU Car Smoking Ban Increases Potential for Community-Police Tensions
Michigan Capitol Confidential ^ | 8/14/2016 | Kahryn Riley

Posted on 08/17/2016 9:56:19 AM PDT by MichCapCon

Americans everywhere are struggling to come to grips with recent high-profile tragedies arising from violent encounters between police and civilians. For both police and many motorists, routine traffic stops have become nerve-wracking events.

This is the backdrop against which the trustees of Michigan State University have imposed a new ordinance that will increase the number of needless traffic stops on its campuses.

The measure takes effect on Aug. 15, and bans smoking or using smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes anywhere on MSU property. The ordinance applies even to personal vehicles on public streets that pass through the university. Violators can be charged with a civil infraction, and students can be suspended.

Michigan State has its own law enforcement agency. Its members are full peace officers with powers of arrest, just like municipal police departments. A spokesperson for the agency told The Detroit News that initially, officers will only be talking to smokers, with an emphasis on education.

What enforcement looks like will be worked out in time. Individual officers will have discretion over whether, how and upon whom enforcement actions will fall at any given moment. The potential for incidents that increase tensions between police and the community cannot be dismissed.

For this and other reasons, it is appropriate to question the priorities of MSU trustees. The ban makes them appear out of touch and more concerned about projecting a certain kind of image rather than the school's mission of educating students.

Given the tensions that exist between police and the cities they serve, it seems unwise to enact more laws that will increase opportunities for unnecessary community-police confrontations.

Beyond these immediate concerns, at what point do government efforts to control and micromanage the activities of a free people, including college students, become repellent to the very idea of a free society and what it means to be an American? Pulling over otherwise law-abiding drivers and fining them for engaging in a legal activity in their personal vehicles comes awfully close to crossing that line — if it doesn’t blow right past it.


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: college; education; michigan; police; smoking
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1 posted on 08/17/2016 9:56:19 AM PDT by MichCapCon
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To: MichCapCon

I’m guessing there will be at least one ethnic group that will be exempted from enforcement of this particular “ordinance.”


2 posted on 08/17/2016 9:58:43 AM PDT by Steely Tom (Vote GOP: A Slower Handbasket)
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To: Steely Tom

Who? I’m black and my college went after my a** for smoking less then 20ft from a big. I.e. I was cocky and eventually got a tape measure in front of the campus police to prove then bench I was on was 22ft. away :)


3 posted on 08/17/2016 10:04:20 AM PDT by Raymann
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To: MichCapCon
"...more concerned about projecting a certain kind of image."

Bingo. Virtue-signaling totalitarians. They're so keen to prove what good people they are, they won't rest until you and I are kneeling at the edge of a ditch waiting for the coup de grace. That's where it always ends with these types.

4 posted on 08/17/2016 10:08:02 AM PDT by SargeK
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To: Raymann

If they enforce their “ordinances” equally without respect to ethnicity, I say hats off to them.

BTW, my father worked for a university. His boss - who was not all their mentally - insisted she could smell a person smoking outside the building while sitting at her desk, even though the exterior walls of the building were all made of brick and her office was on the third floor.


5 posted on 08/17/2016 10:09:24 AM PDT by Steely Tom (Vote GOP: A Slower Handbasket)
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To: Raymann

Good for you!


6 posted on 08/17/2016 10:14:44 AM PDT by beef (Who Killed Kennewick Man?)
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To: MichCapCon

“Michigan State has its own law enforcement agency. Its members are full peace officers with powers of arrest, just like municipal police departments.”

Meh, sorry, but if I’m driving on a public road through their campus and some “university police” tries to pull me over, I’m just going to keep driving. If it comes to it, I’ll take my chances that a jury won’t be any more pleased with rent-a-cops pretending to have real police powers than I am.


7 posted on 08/17/2016 10:16:44 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: MichCapCon

LOL, poor communist lemmings in Michigan.


8 posted on 08/17/2016 10:16:48 AM PDT by jacknhoo (Luke 12:51. Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.)
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To: MichCapCon

“...even to personal vehicles on public streets that pass through the university.”

I’d take this one as far as I could go with it. And I’m not even a smoker.


9 posted on 08/17/2016 10:19:19 AM PDT by beelzepug (For English press #1; for Spanish, learn English and press #1)
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To: MichCapCon

How about Eff You. Does Eff You work for you, MSU?

Eff you and I would be right in yer face, BLOWING SMOKE.

Bitches.


10 posted on 08/17/2016 10:21:09 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Every word the "News Media" prints these days are a lie, including "and" and "the".)
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To: MichCapCon

Legal products showed be accommodated.. Time for a lawsuit


11 posted on 08/17/2016 10:23:40 AM PDT by stocksthatgoup (Don't argue with a Liberal. Ask him simple questions and listen to him stutter)
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To: MichCapCon

Ridiculous laws can lead to violent encounters. And then libs are shocked.


12 posted on 08/17/2016 10:24:42 AM PDT by Gamecock (There is always one more idiot than you counted on.)
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To: MichCapCon

How much will the fines be I wonder?


13 posted on 08/17/2016 10:25:55 AM PDT by umgud (ban all infidelaphobics)
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To: MichCapCon

When will they pass the following:

You must have a non-slip matt in your tub.
You must wear safety glasses when mowing.
Etc.....

Personal responsibility is personal!


14 posted on 08/17/2016 10:27:12 AM PDT by rfreedom4u (The root word of vigilante is vigilant!)
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To: MichCapCon; All

Just ask them, ‘what is the reason for this ban? Is it to promote public health? Make sure people live longer? Well then are you prone to ‘ban’ homosexual behavior too? Because it sure as HELL cuts life expectancy’:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/yet-another-study-confirms-gay-life-expectancy-20-years-shorter


15 posted on 08/17/2016 10:27:13 AM PDT by notdownwidems (Washington DC has become the enemy of free people everywhere)
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To: MichCapCon

Its a good thing that Punahou School didn't have these rules back when the Choom Gang was in action.

16 posted on 08/17/2016 10:33:44 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
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To: Raymann

Good job dude. Don’t let the smoke Nazis bring you down.


17 posted on 08/17/2016 10:34:26 AM PDT by ohioman
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To: MichCapCon

Bummer. Most smokers could use a good beat down w/ a truncheon.


18 posted on 08/17/2016 10:36:12 AM PDT by Drango (A liberal's compassion is limited only by the size of someone else's wallet.)
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To: Raymann

Good for you.


19 posted on 08/17/2016 10:51:02 AM PDT by laplata ( Liberals/Progressives have diseased minds.)
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To: MichCapCon

This will be struck down in court.


20 posted on 08/17/2016 10:54:36 AM PDT by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and I'm tired of smiling.)
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