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Local Law Enforcement Getting To Big & Powerful?

Why is it that Wisconsin's County Sheriff�s Departments, who have this huge budget every year, are spending hundreds of  thousands every year of taxpayer dollars on Special Units and Tactical teams with every latest gadget and piece of equipment the market place has to offer, when your local Police Department is spending an equal amount of your tax dollars on the same thing?  And if every local Police Department has its own Tactical Unit for its own municipality, why do the Sheriffs Departments need one?  If the Sheriff�s Tactical Unit is to be considered �county wide�, then why would every local municipality need one?  There seems to be a waste of taxpayer dollars here.

          If every local municipality is going to have its own tactical unit, then why should local municipal residents also support the Sheriffs Tactical Units?  Local municipal residents are being taxed twice for the same service.  It�s about time this practice stops.  I as a taxpayer don�t want to support a county unit, when I also have to support a local unit with my taxes.  There doesn�t need to be ten tactical units in a county.  It�s a waste of  taxpayer dollars.

          Police Departments are a paranoid group of people.  They feel the need to arm themselves like military units as if an attack were imamate.  At the same time they want to dis-arm the population.  They have this mentality that they, as the Police, rule the land, what they say or decide goes without question, and don�t have to be accountable for their actions. 

          The people of Wisconsin don�t have to fear crime.  It�s the Police and the Prosecutors they should fear.  Wisconsin is a relatively safe place to live.  Crime is not a big issue here. (except in the Milwaukee, Racine, & Kenosha areas)  Because of that, the Police are making minor, mostly victimless crimes, a big thing for them.  Its become their �Bread & Butter.�  The Police are like every other bureaucrat, their worried about keeping their job.  The more money they spend on useless programs, equipment & gadgets, the more money they get from the Federal government, year after year.  The less taxpayer dollars they spend, the less they get from Washington.  The less they get, the less to hire more officers.  So there spending more time and taxpayers money on minor, victimless, misdemeanor crimes.  Simple, everyday victimless crimes that carry an average fine or forfeiture of around $250, and at the same time spending $8,000.00 trying to get a conviction if that case goes to trial.  And if the case goes through the time and expense of a trial, there is only about a 50% conviction rate.  But this raises the crime rate statistically, which gives them an excuse to spend more taxpayer dollars.    Wisconsin as a whole, does not need more police officers.  There are plenty of them now, and they do a well enough job in most cases.  We don�t have to saturate the state with Police Officers like the Nazi�s in occupied France.  The trick for the Police is that nobody notices.  Nobody notices the amount of taxpayer dollars wasted on needless �population control� in this county.  They might say justice isn�t cheap, but it�s just to justify their jobs.

          A good example of  Police over-spending is the City of New Berlin. Taxes in New Berlin have sky rocketed in the last five years to the point where they have the highest tax rate in the county.  The big increase in spending is in the Police Department.  Unnecessary hiring of several new Police Officers, a new state of the art Police Department Headquarters building/jail, new squad cars, and the latest expensive gadgets the marketplace has to offer.  It�s time too cut excessive Police budgets.  By the way, ever wonder why New Berlin police squads are a dark color?  So you can�t see them.  I always thought they would want to make an as visible presence as possible. Very sneaky.

          Look at Waukesha County�s District Attorney Paul Boucher.  Every year thousands of people get arrested for crimes that they are innocent of.  The first thing Paul Boucher does is making it as expensive as possible for them to mount any kind of defense.  Boucher makes it possible for it to cost the accused, several thousands of dollars of legal fees before the case comes to trial.  Boucher has admitted this on local Television.  This is wrong.  Your guilty before proven innocent in Waukesha County.  Keep an eye on the Chumra case.  Boucher will be at his sneakiest. You can bet your bottom dollar he will be bullying and intimidating witnesses.  After all, he�s a thug. 

Every year more and more of our civil rights are being chipped away.  It�s nothing for the Police to get a search warrant and search your home and property. It�s very easy.  And in the coarse of executing said warrant, they can literally destroy your home and property and not be accountable for their actions.  The law protects them.  The law allows them to do what they please basically.  Driving down the road, the Police can pull you over and search your car or truck whenever they wish.  You don�t need to speed or have a tail light out, if they want to pull you over and search your car, they will and can.  Yes, they can without probable cause.  The law allows it.  Next time you get pulled over for making a rolling stop at a stop sign, and the cop asks you if he can search your car, tell him NO!  See how fast you�ll be in handcuffs and a drug sniffing dog will be they�re searching your car.  Try it sometime.  The more they search, the more they find.  The more pidally arrests they can make.  The more arrests they make, the more money they get to spend.  Simple math here.  If they don�t spend it, they lose it and don�t get more money.  Crime is supposed to be at a 25 year low.  So why are we giving billions of dollars of our tax money to law enforcement agencies?

          Its time more people know what�s going on in their local police departments and make them more accountable for their actions.  If they get away with their actions with your neighbor, they can do it to you.  Law Enforcement has gotten too big and too powerful.  Its time we speak up and do something about it.  Write to the Governor, your Alderman, Mayor, Senator, State Representative, and County Supervisor, anyone who will listen.  Do it now before its too late.

          Remember; you�re going up against a prosecutor, judge, and a cash register.  Law Enforcement is trying to make a profit.  Makes you wonder if they�re trying to get listed on the NYSE.  It gets worse on a Federal level.  That�s another subject in itself.  Blunder City!

 

WE ARE LOSING IT FOLKS!

Senate approves police searches and seizures without warrants.



                   The United States Congress is on the verge of passing a
Republican sponsored bill that would eradicate the Fourth Amendment of the
United States Constitution. Article IV of the Bill of Rights states, "The
right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by
Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched,
and the persons or things to be seized."

In addition, this bill extends its authority to impede upon the First
Amendment Right of "Freedom of Speech."

The Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act, "To provide for the punishment of
methamphetamine laboratory operators, provide additional resources to combat
methamphetamine production, trafficking, and abuse in the United States, and
for other purposes," has already passed through the Senate and was being
deliberated by the House of Representatives as of press time.

In effect, what the provision does is empower the Federal Government, State
Government and local law enforcement agencies, to enter private property -
homes, businesses, automobiles, etc. for any "criminal searches" without a
warrant and without any legal obligation to inform the private property
owner that a search and seizure was conducted until months later, if at all.
If the bill becomes law, then it would grant the Federal Government power
to obtain "intangible" evidence -- hard-drive data, photographs or copies
made of any documents or family or personal belongings, diaries, etc. -
without ever having to inform the owner that their property was searched.
If physical evidence was taken then the government could wait up to 90
days later, before having to notify the owner that a secret search of
their property ever occurred.

David Kopel, director of research for the Independence Institute, a Colorado
think tank focusing on Constitutional issues, said the bill was aimed
especially at computer hard drives, which could be copied in an owner'
absence and examined without the owner's knowledge.

The Senate's version of the bill (S. 486) was sponsored by Senator John
Ashcroft (R-Missouri). The House Bill (H.R. 2987) was sponsored by U.S.
Representative Chris Cannon (R-Utah).

It's primary initiative is to increase criminal penalties for the sale,
production and distribution of methamphetamines, appropriate funds to crack
down on "meth labs" where the drug is processed, and fund methamphetamine
treatment programs. However, tucked away deep inside the legal jargon of the
bill are two provisions which go far beyond the realm of methamphetamine
anti-proliferation or even the war on drugs. One measure pertains to police
search and seizure, while the other attempts to dictate Internet
communication.

Under present law, a property owner must be notified immediately of any
possession seized in a criminal search, but the "Notice and Clarification"
section of the methamphetamine bill (S. section 301, H.R. section 6) amends
U.S. Code by stating, "Section 3103a of title 18, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: `With respect to
any issuance under this section or any other provision of law (including
section 3117 and any rule), any notice required, or that may be required, to
be given may be delayed pursuant to the standards, terms, and conditions set
forth in section 2705, unless otherwise expressly provided by statute.'

A source within the Senate Judiciary committee, speaking on condition of
anonymity, admitted that the language in the search and seizure provision
"slipped by everybody" in the Senate.

"(Hatch and the Justice Department) buried it deep in the bill, and nobody
noticed until the thing had already passed."

"The Secret Searches measure is so outrageous that it would have no chance
of being enacted as a bill on its own, when subjected to public scrutiny and
debate," Kopel asserted. "So instead, the DOJ has nestled the Secret Search
item deep inside a long bill dealing with methamphetamines."

Jeanne Lapatto, spokesperson for the Senate Judiciary Committee and its
chairman, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), said she was unaware of the specific
provisions in question, but defended the goals of the bill. "This is a
bipartisan bill," Lapatto said. "During hearings, no one had any problems
with the overall goal of the bill, which is curbing the horrible problem of
methamphetamines."

Another approach the bill takes to "curbing" methamphetamine usage is by
making it a crime to create a hypertext link on the Internet to any site
that "directly or indirectly advertises" drug paraphernalia, or distributes
information about the processing or purchase of drugs (S. section 203, H.R.
section 3). Under the provisions of the act, an Internet service provider,
who is notified by a district attorney or representative of the Drug
Enforcement Agency, that one of their hosted sites is in violation, would be
required to remove the site within 48 hours or face federal criminal
penalties.

On top of that, another provision of the bill would make it punishable by up
to ten years in prison, "To teach or demonstrate. or to distribute by any
means of information pertaining to, in whole or in part, the manufacture of
a controlled substance."

U.S. Representative Bob Barr (R-Georgia), member of the House Judiciary
Committee, is leading the fight against this bill in the House. Barr asserts
that the search and seizure provisions of the bill, "Have nothing to do with
methamphetamines," and he believes that had the search and seizure provision
been introduced as a separate bill, its chances for passage, "Would be very,
very problematic."

"These are not minor changes," Barr added. "These are substantive and
far-reaching changes to the criminal law on search and seizure. It's
unconscionable that someone would try to sneak these provisions into an
unrelated bill."

A spokesperson for the Justice Department, which supports the provisions,
declined to comment directly, but did release a recent letter from Assistant
Attorney General Robert Ruben to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry
Hyde (R-Illinois).

In his letter, Ruben praised the bill for providing, "Important and
necessary tools for deterring the spread of methamphetamine manufacturing
and abuse in our nation."

Speaking on behalf of House sponsor, Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah), legislative
director Chris MacKay said the no-notice provision was necessary for,
"Police to perform their job effectively."

According to MacKay, the provision was designed to allow police to search
with minimum risk to their safety and without suspects destroying evidence
before they arrive, adding, "Anything we can do to win the war on drugs is
worth doing."

Tribune Combined Report, using with permission, amongst other sources,
information compiled and written by Justin Torres of CNSNews.com and David
Kopel of the Independence Institute.

 

Only the I.R.S...

 

The all-too-predictable hysteria has become cliche.

 

  One of us embraces a demon and punctuates our insanity with gunfire. Like clockwork, newspaper editors and columnists clamor for handgun control, assault rifle control, or, more inanely, bullet control. The government must stop this madness, they say. And now. Guns, they say, are evil. We must control them. But to do that we have to control you just a little more. But you don't mind, do you? Because you'll be safe. Really. Listen to us. We know what's best. These people are idiots. And they are lying to you, or they would be calling for the banning of evil cars because they are used by drunken drivers. Or evil cigarettes. Or evil alcohol. If there were no guns, we would find other ways to kill each other. I can almost promise. The problem is not firearms. The problem is us - you and me, and what we've become as a nation. Somehow we've lost our will, our sense of honor, our character. We have become too tolerant. We have listened too long to idiots with easy answers. With newspaper editors and others telling us nothing is black and white, we've gotten lost in a vast, gray wasteland where the rules are defined by lawyers and bureaucrats. Conveniently, nothing is right; nothing is wrong. We live by the TV image. And we've become irresponsible, disrespectful of others' rights, profane, narcissistic, rude, lazy and increasingly stupid. If it's too hard, make it easier. Standards too high? Lower them. More can participate, and that's more important than excellence. Mediocrity is success; achievement somehow neurotic. We no longer insist on acceptable conduct from ourselves or our young. That would require time, self-discipline and tough choices. It would require that we draw a line. Instead, we embrace life as if it were a beer commercial. And we are never responsible for our actions. Communities and industries and lives are destroyed to save animals or trees that may or may not need protection. Our children are not taught to respect private property, that stealing is reprehensible, that vandalism is wrong. We fail to teach them violence is the surest indicator of stupidity. And we feed our young a steady diet of sex and violence and wonder why they indulge in both. Public schools are becoming war zones. But instead of permanently expelling violent troublemakers on the spot, we waste time and resources trying to rehabilitate them as part of the myth that all of us are going to make it in this society. Government wastes billions of dollars in a hopeless, expensive drug war while we happily smoke, snort or inject what manages to get through the net. Then we waste billions more taking care of those who use drugs, people who knew they were illegal and dangerous. Our elderly are treated as excess baggage and churches are loathed as bastions of right-wing craziness. And we wonder at the lack of standards in our communities. We turn our mentally ill loose on the streets, molest our children, beat and rape our women and kill each other with great glee. We hate each other because of religion. Or skin color. Or sexual persuasion. Or economic status. We hate each other for the sheer joy of hating. We tolerate government's bullying intrusion into every corner of our lives, and we put up with intellectually bankrupt elected officials with the morals of alley cats. We tolerate them even as they tax us into poverty, peddle our jobs overseas and refuse to live by the rules they lay down for us. And because of all this, and more, we live with a perverse, sullen rage. And guns somehow are responsible for all this? Hardly. Let's put the blame where it belongs. Us. You and me. We did it with our refusal to accept the fact there really is a right and a wrong - that right should be rewarded and wrong punished harshly, quickly and certainly. We wanted to do it the easy way. And here we are. We could change all this, but we'll have to stand up for what's right and raise hell about what's wrong. Each and every time. We'll have to raise our standards and accept no less than the best from ourselves, our children and our institutions. Maybe we could pull this off. The real danger is that so many of us are willing to continue in the same tired old rut - trading our rights or the rights of others to government for a false sense of safety in all this craziness. The real tragedy is that so many of us are willing to do just that.

 

 

 

 

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