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Sheriff's plan to urge people to report suspicious behavior unleashes storm of criticism
Sun Sentinel ^ | May 17, 2013 | Ben Wolford

Posted on 05/18/2013 7:06:20 AM PDT by Rennes Templar

A program in Palm Beach County intended to encourage residents to report suspicious behavior is attracting resistance from around the state.

Under the proposed "Violence Prevention Program," anyone who sees a potentially dangerous situation — a schizophrenic person with weapons, a war veteran making threats to passersby — could call a 24-hour hotline. Legitimate-sounding calls would trigger a visit by specially trained deputies in plain clothes or by mental health professionals.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff says violence prevention unit could thwart would-be killers like the recent mass shooters in Connecticut and Colorado. The program will cost $3.2 million in the first year. The Florida Legislature agreed to pay $1 million of it.

Despite Sheriff Ric Bradshaw's ostensibly good-willed intent, the plan has been compared to Big Brother, the KGB, Castro's Cuba...

Conservative bloggers around the country are condemning this as a First Amendment violation. They say the government of Palm Beach County is trying to encourage residents to tell on their neighbors for anti-government speech. Email messages have spilled into Gov. Rick Scott's inbox, where hundreds of Florida residents urged him to line-item veto the state funding for the program.

~snip~

In the article, Bradshaw said, "We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he hates the government, hates the mayor and he's gonna shoot him. What does it hurt to have somebody knock on a door and ask, 'Hey, is everything OK?'"

~snip~

Dmitry Levin, of Boca Raton, grew up in the Soviet Union, where he said the government encouraged neighbors to "snitch on everybody."

"It's a specific telephone line to report your neighbor who doesn't like the government," Levin said. "When I read that, my jaw dropped. That's KGB in its finest form. The next step would be, what, bonuses for reporting?"

(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Colorado; US: Connecticut; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: agenda21; bigbrother; colorado; connecticut; florida; sheriffs
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To: Rennes Templar
‘Hey, is everything OK?’


41 posted on 05/18/2013 8:56:40 AM PDT by varyouga
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To: Lurker

Went with another coffee instead..... She doesn’t suspect a thing.

I have to stop watching the old John Wayne movies into the wee hours.

Trying to imagine the world being the same as it was with a movie and a beer...


42 posted on 05/18/2013 8:57:54 AM PDT by WomBom ("I read Free Republic for the pictures")
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To: WomBom

I know what you mean. I miss The Duke.


43 posted on 05/18/2013 9:00:20 AM PDT by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
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To: Lurker

Last night’s showing was In Harm’s Way


44 posted on 05/18/2013 9:06:21 AM PDT by WomBom ("I read Free Republic for the pictures")
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To: WomBom

I have my kids hooked on the westerns

The Sons of Katie Elder... No finer movie ever made


45 posted on 05/18/2013 9:07:32 AM PDT by WomBom ("I read Free Republic for the pictures")
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To: Rennes Templar

One thing to consider is that the sheriff is LOCAL and subject to local. When the FED GOVT does this it is another story.


46 posted on 05/18/2013 9:13:42 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple
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To: Rennes Templar

Closing in, right?


47 posted on 05/18/2013 9:16:00 AM PDT by Logical me
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To: Rennes Templar

Sheriff Ric Bradshaw’s view is alarming. I don’t like this stance he’s promoting. He seems to get away with so much. It’s almost like shoot first then ask questions some people say here in Florida. I don’t even like entering his city. You feel like you are being watched even before his views and program ideas were publicly known. He deserves criticism. Imo.


48 posted on 05/18/2013 9:19:15 AM PDT by Christie at the beach
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To: WomBom

No one with a slave mentality has a problem with it.


49 posted on 05/18/2013 9:21:39 AM PDT by sport
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To: WomBom

SOKE is good, but I’ve always been partial to The Searchers. Great flick.


50 posted on 05/18/2013 9:22:41 AM PDT by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
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To: WomBom

Among my favorites is the Cavalry Trilogy, “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” in particular. Now Sgt. Tyree would be the kind of guy the sheriff would need to investigate with his occasional references to “Yankee officers” and the “Yankee war department” as well as his checkered past as a Confederate officer. That Confederate battle flag on Trooper Smith’s coffin is definitely anti-government. Lot’s of politically incorrect stuff in that movie that could be construed as contrary to government policy and worthy of reporting as suspicious behavior.


51 posted on 05/18/2013 9:23:13 AM PDT by trubolotta
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To: Rennes Templar
anyone who sees a potentially dangerous situation — a schizophrenic person with weapons, a war veteran making threats to passersby — could call a 24-hour hotline.

"anyone who sees a potentially dangerous situation — a schizophrenic person with weapons, a war veteran making threats to passersby, a sheriff's deputy open-carrying a pistol while on duty — could call a 24-hour hotline. "

52 posted on 05/18/2013 9:25:35 AM PDT by kiryandil (turning Americans into felons, one obnoxious drunk at a time (Zero Tolerance!!!))
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To: Rennes Templar
In the article, Bradshaw said, "What does it hurt to have somebody knock on a door and ask, 'Hey, is everything OK?'"
Gee, it hurts nothing Sheriff Bradshaw.

Like say, oh, by the way, 'Did you stop beating your wife?' No offense meant ya know.
Just askin' 'Hey, is everything okay?'

So.. uh.. before we go.. is that a Yes or a No -- 'Sheriff'?

53 posted on 05/18/2013 10:05:49 AM PDT by Condor51 (Si vis pacem, para bellum.)
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To: Rennes Templar
We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he hates the (Obama) government,

That would be every conservative on FR.

54 posted on 05/18/2013 10:10:04 AM PDT by cotton
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To: hoosierham

“There is nothing to stop anyone calling right now about someone who is acting threatening.”

Right. And they need $3.2 million to do this?

Sounds like the Sheriff is a useful tool for the regime.


55 posted on 05/18/2013 10:13:58 AM PDT by Rennes Templar (The true Obama persona is emerging, the one from his first Presidential debate.)
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To: Rennes Templar
Years ago in Brooklyn there was an IAD captain who regularly followed cops as they worked. Nothing wrong with that except he did so for no reason. It was pure “fishing.”
When cops got on to it they followed him and found out where he lived on Long Island. They got sympathetic non-cop neighbors who didn't like him anyway to write anonymous letters saying the captain hung around grade schools in his off time. They wrote he exposed himself and on and on. Of course nothing ever came from this directly, but his “fishing” finally stopped when HIS superiors looked into why they were getting all of these bogus “tips.” Maybe reporting the sheriff and some of his workers might help.
56 posted on 05/18/2013 10:32:41 AM PDT by jmaroneps37 (Conservatism is truth. Liberalism is lies.)
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To: Christie at the beach

we get calls for service like this now for health and welfare checks. But all these calls everyone is suicidal. That’s the language to get the cops out to the house.


57 posted on 05/18/2013 10:50:09 AM PDT by ofcrob2237
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To: Revolting cat!

58 posted on 05/18/2013 11:08:08 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (America 2013 - STUCK ON STUPID)
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To: Rennes Templar

The key word here is “legitimate” ——but aren’t the police supposed to be doing this anyway? What’s the new money for? What I’ve noticed is there are a whole bunch of phone trigger happy people out and about now who will call in smoke, parked cars, small crowds, dead animals, hitch hikers, and virtually everything else that can be seen from the safety of their cell-phone equipped cars. It has to be driving the 911 operators bananas. The notion that weirdos aren’t already being “called in “ is up around infantile and means someone is looking for new money.


59 posted on 05/18/2013 11:15:59 AM PDT by cherokee1 (skip the names---just kick the buttz)
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Hey Sheriff, I'm sure you've come up with this brain fart because your deparment already has a handle on the epidemic of teenroes beatin' hell out of folks for being white in public ?

Oh, that's still happening ?

Then my first impression was correct - you ARE a fascist @hole.

60 posted on 05/18/2013 12:16:31 PM PDT by tomkat (solve for x: Baraq = islamite .. islam = enemy ... Baraq = x)
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