Here's a new Orwellian term to add to the list containing such gems as "Clear Skies", "No child left behind", or the PATRIOT Act itself.
Safe Homes is the name of the program in Boston whose goal is to get police inside homes without warrants to conduct a search.
They think that many families will allow this out of fear their child may be somehow involved in gun violence.
Make the jump.
During the next two weeks, teams of three plainclothes officers assigned to schools will go to homes where they believe teens have guns and ask their parents or legal guardians for permission to search.
The program, called Safe Homes, has raised questions about civil liberties.
Thomas Nolan, a former Boston police lieutenant who teaches criminology at Boston University, called it "an end run around the Constitution."
"The police have restrictions on their authority and ability to conduct searches," he said. "The Constitution was written with a very specific intent, and that was to keep the law out of private homes unless there is a written document signed by a judge and based on probable cause. Here, you don't have that."
The whole FISA scandal we have to deal with is rooted in law enforcements relentless drive to corrupt or eliminate our Constitutional protections invariably under the banner of "saving lives and making us safer".
People are working tirelessly to ensure our Constitution isn't shredded and here we have a street-level police program seeking yet another way to get around the 4th Amendment. And, as always, it's based in part on scaring people and exploiting the fear as well as systematically attempting to take advantage of thier ignorance.
Critics said they worry that some residents will be too intimidated by a police presence on their doorstep to say no to a search.
.
"Our biggest concern is the notion of informed consent," said Amy Reichbach, a racial justice advocate at the American Civil Liberties Union. "People might not understand the implications of weapons being tested or any contraband being found."
.
But Davis said the point of the program, dubbed Safe Homes, is to make streets safer, not to incarcerate people.
The road to you-know-where is paved with such good and noble assertions.
"This isn't evidence that we're going to present in a criminal case," said Davis, who met with community leaders yesterday to get feedback on the program. "This is a seizing of a very dangerous object. . . .
This program, if allowed to progress will be another tool in the war on drugs, despite the following odd assurances. The standard operating procedure is to get a new avenue like this and then use it for a myriad of purposes far removed from the original "selling point".
If drugs are found, it will be up to the officers' discretion whether to make an arrest, but police said modest amounts of drugs like marijuana will simply be confiscated and will not lead to charges.
.
"A kilo of cocaine would not be considered modest," said Elaine Driscoll, Davis's spokeswoman. "The officers that have been trained have been taught discretion."
On thing that jumped out at me was the funny notion that somehow - I don't really know how - guns are considered MORE dangerous than marijuana.
This is a notable change. If you have ever listened to the cops and other conveyors of the official propaganda, one would get the impression marijuana was somehow worse then the Black Plague.
Now they are going to simply overlook the heinous crimes of marijuana possession in exchange for being allowed to spy on people in their homes with their permission? How bizarre!
They must really want something else, and that is another avenue around the 4th Amendment.
The war on drugs has been the biggest single battering ram against the Constitution prior to the War on Terror and the Bush Administration. Long before any inkling of the War on Terror and the PATRIOT Act, we had law enforcement relentlessly seeking ways around the the Bill of Rights, constantly claiming it either limits their ability to keep people safe or catch criminals, when the end desire is spying, essentially.
They might not arrest individuals right now, but you can bet your last dollar those kids and others are going on lists and files will be kept.
The people of Boston need to be reminded exactly of their rights and not simply give them up out of fear.
A Final Note
I have no hard data on this, other than what I read in a few news reports and in and of itself the goal of seperating teens from handguns - we aren't talking about hunting rifles or unmodified shotguns here - is commendable.
My issue with it is "what is causing the attraction to the handguns?" "How has it become an apparent epidemic, particularly in Boston?"
Getting at the root or roots of the problem is more important or at least just as important as addressing the symptoms.
Back in the early and mid-1990's, handgun violence and "drive-by shootings" were rampant here in Atlanta and in 1994 it was deemed a public health crisis. The City and County consulted with some professional policy people like these. And the shootings did eventually subside, though some areas of Atlanta remain dangerous for locals and visitors alike. (Areas like the one in which I worked for 8 years.)
That said, vigilance is simply essential with such well-intentioned programs.
Law Enforcement and our current Administration have severely damaged credibility here in the 21st Century. They have shown again and again they cannot be trusted to respect the Constitution and that our protections are nothing but obstacles to them. And because of this they will not rest in finding new and different end-runs around the Constitution.
The basic solution is for Boston-area parents to solidly know their right to say NO to police REQUESTS for a search.
While they still have to ask, that is......
__________________________
»
