Posted on 08/25/2002 7:21:18 AM PDT by Dog Gone
Edited on 08/25/2002 7:46:31 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
A contingent of op-ed and letter writers to the Chronicle has taken the position that arresting 278 young people during a raid on a shopping center and restaurant parking lot last weekend was entirely justified because of the annoying late-night loitering and drag racing that had become typical at that spot. But the problem with the raid is not that police officers tried to arrest lawbreakers in and around the 24- hour Kmart Super Center parking in the 8400 block of Westheimer. It is with the contemptuous attitude police showed toward the citizenry by not bothering to sort out the good from the bad.
The people who so enthusiastically applaud law enforcement for shoddy police work more than likely would be singing a different tune if they or one of their children had been unjustly swept up in the botched raid and they found themselves spending all of a weekend day working through the city's criminal justice bureaucracy and coughing up large sums to retrieve their car from the pound.
More nettlesome than the irritation of being arrested for no cause, possible long-term consequences of a needlessly acquired criminal record and the potential for significant lawsuits that will have to be defended and settled with public funds, is the fact that the officer who led the Kmart debacle, Houston police Capt. Mark Aguirre, apparently has operated unchecked for years in this free-style arrest mode.
Police Chief C.O. Bradford says he has ordered an inquiry into the parking lot arrests. And Mayor Lee Brown has referred the matter to his Office of Inspector General. But Brown otherwise has been strangely quiet for a mayor who so heavily touted his extensive law enforcement experience during his three election campaigns.
The Chronicle does not condone behavior that is unlawful, or even just annoying, including drag racing, underage drinking, drug use, disturbingly loud music playing or anything else a bunch of kids hanging out late at night in a parking lot might be up to. But neither does the paper support police- state tactics that show an alarming disregard for the right of law-abiding citizens to to go about free from fear of sudden arrest.
The "Kalifornication" of Texas due to the open boarders of the Lone Star state.
It's like you think we still live a free country where you are the master of your own body...
Boys and girls, you are merely property of the state...
You are owned by the state...
You exist at the whims of the state...
You can be locked up by the state, for any reason the state deems necessary...
You are required to work for six months of the year to support your masters...
You DO NOT have the right to peacefully assemble, and curfews are in effect...
Now shut up and quit rattling those chains around your neck...
Remember, it's for your protection... And the children's...
And just what is it's "real work"? Arresting patrons of a local business? Adopting a policy of "Arrest them all, and we'll sort 'em out later" (a subset of the "shoot first and ask questions later" mindset)? I thought the Poice were supposed to be fighting crime, and I find very little crime in this situation. I'm all for keeping the peace WHEN THERE IS A DISTURBANCE, but it has not been demonstrated that there was a disturbance here.
When a retail establishment is open for business, it's property is open for patrons to make use of the property for the purpose of doing business. It's an open invitation to the public to come on their property. What would you have them do? Hire Security Guards to check each patron as they come on the property to be sure they were in fact coming to engage in business with the establishment? That's a little too close to "papers, please" for my comfort.
The proper work of Law Enforcement is not harrassing children and adults indiscriminately. While these jack-boots were busy arrsting all these "dangerous" people, somewhere else in Houston there may have been a mugging, a rape, a murder, a drunk careening through the streets, or any number of more serious crimes taking place, but the HPD was busy with this little fiasco. Some Law Enforcement!
I guess you haven't been around here long, but many Freepers actually hope an earthquake destroys us out here, or that nuclear bombs or anthrax take out our big cities. Some are kinder, they just want to give California back to Mexico. I like to point out that there is good and bad everywhere, and living here is not so horrible. I take whatever opportunity I can to expose the holier than thou crowd who can't wait to post how horrible the slavery is here in Kalifornia
Excuse me? Didn't they arrest 278? Was that TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-EIGHT? And the police are supposed to sort out the Momma's boys from the real troublemakers?
Give me a break. Maybe if teenagers/young adults faced some consequences for behavior that is unlawful, or even just annoying, including drag racing, underage drinking, drug use, disturbingly loud music playing they might think twice before doing it.
I'm sure I can count on you then not to bash California, since so many of our residents are from out of state. And I'm not taking about the illegals, either!.
Turn off that red light and maybe they will go away.
If you don't have a problem with that, you should.
Now that's an idea. I don't feel safe on the freeways with all those other cars. They should all be arrested. It would make for a nice commute. :)
I have access to those archives, what would you like retrieved?
You are missing the hypocrisy of several people here, who may assert their appreciation for law enforcement, but have no problem thumbing their noses at the police when 278 kids are on private property at 12:30 in the morning breaking the law.
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