is a whole lot different than just reading about it in a book.
Posted by Tina
These were my thoughts as I read a story this morning about a small town in Arkansas that has decided to lower the boom on criminals in a poor run down neighborhood. The Mayor, James Valley, along with the City Council ordered a week long 24 hour curfew and authorized police to patrol the neighborhoods and to stop and question those who were found walking the streets:
Crime-ridden Arkansas town expands 24-hour curfew Las Vegas Sun
Officers armed with military rifles have been stopping and questioning passers-by in a neighborhood plagued by violence that’s been under a 24-hour curfew for a week. *** Police Chief Fred Fielder said the patrols have netted 32 arrests since they began last week in a 10-block neighborhood in this small town on the banks of the Mississippi River long troubled by poverty. The council said those living in the city want the random shootings and drug-fueled violence to stop, no matter what the cost. *** “Now if somebody wants to sue us, they have an option to sue, but I’m fairly certain that a judge will see it the way the way the citizens see it here,” Mayor James Valley said. “The citizens deserve peace, that some infringement on constitutional rights is OK and we have not violated anything as far as the Constitution” *** Among the curfew operation’s arrests, 10 came from felony charges, including the arrest of two people carrying both drugs and weapons, Fielder said. The police chief said the officers in the field carry military-style M-16 or M-4 rifles, some equipped with laser sights. Other officers carry short-barrel shotguns. Many dealing crack cocaine and marijuana in the city carry pistols and AK-47 assault rifles, he said. *** “We’ve had people call us, expressing concern for their children,” Fielder said. “They had to sleep on the floor, because of stray bullets.” *** Fielder said officers had not arrested anyone for violating the curfew, only questioned people about why they were outside. Those without good answers or acting nervously get additional attention, Fielder said.
Wait a minuteback up. The Mayor and the City Council have determined they must do something to restore law and order after receiving numerous citizen complaints and now somebody wants to sue? Who might that beand why?
However, such stops likely violate residents’ constitutional rights to freely assemble and protections against unreasonable police searches, said Holly Dickson, a lawyer for the ACLU of Arkansas who addressed the council at its packed Tuesday meeting. Because of that, Dickson said any convictions coming from the arrests likely would be overturned.
This woman lives in the black and white world of the written legal page. She knows the letter of the law. She has a well educated understanding of Constitutionaly guaranteed rights but she brings no practical experience at all to the situations confronting citizens every day in America. Narrowing her focus, she fails to consider the rights of the people in the neighborhood to walk their streets freely or to let their children play in the sunshine instead of huddled inside on the floor.
Holly Dickson has never ridden the mountainshe has only read about it.