Police state doings, at home and away


Yesterday morning we learned of an outrage in West Hartford , where a student was arrested for taking pictures that he says show a policeman manhandling a fellow student. To add insult to injury, the principal seized the opportunity to deprive him of the right to attend his graduation, in apparent retaliation for the fact that he led a demonstration protesting the Republican immigration plan. He was arrested for interfering with a police officer and breach of the peace. The latter offense has always been a classic catch all, and the former has also become a convenient offense to use against people the cops don't like. One must wonder how someone with two hands on a camera can interfere with a police officer, but I guess documenting the cops actions was itself interference.

It was a busy day at Conard High School Thursday, what with the release of scores of crickets in the cafeteria as a senior prank and the arrest of student council president Francisco Acevedo Jr., after he video-recorded what he said was excessive use of force by a police officer in the midst of the chaos.

Acevedo was suspended and faces the prospect of not being able to graduate with his classmates Wednesday or attend the school's post-graduation party. Acevedo, 18, and his attorney, Jon Schoenhorn, were in federal court Friday seeking a restraining order that would permit Acevedo to graduate. They also want a judge to order West Hartford police not to tamper with or destroy Acevedo's digital camera and memory card, which Officer James Parizo took from him at the school.

The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill, who was out of state Friday, but has scheduled a telephone conference with both sides Monday morning.

Schoenhorn claims Acevedo's constitutional free speech rights were violated, and that the suspension was in retaliation for a school walkout by more than 100 students Acevedo led in May to protest proposed harsh immigration laws.

School officials told Acevedo he was being suspended for disrespect and insubordination because he challenged Vice Principal Irene Zytka's order that he put his camera away. Acevedo said he put the camera away, then told Zytka, "I have every right to record the police using force and it seemed like he was going to beat him up," according to the affidavit filed in federal court.

The cops say, without elaborating further, that "there's another side of the story", which is what they typically say when there really isn't another side to the story. I would be willing to bet a fairly large portion of my 401k that the contents of the kid's camera, assuming it has not been erased, will prove his story.

Meanwhile, I found myself in one of those situations yesterday, when the hand of our ever more totalitarian state decided to pick on me (along with thousands of others), about 10 miles south of North Woodstock, on Route 93, the Department of Homeland Oppression was conducting a "Border Patrol" checkpoint, requiring everyone to stop. Now, if you look at a map, you will see that you would have to travel at least 75 miles, through Vermont and New Hampshire, on that road, in order to get to that point from Canada. I'll admit that there are probably closer points North of New Hampshire where you could enter from Canada, then take back roads to get on 93, so that you could be intercepted at that point. In any event, my guess is that 99.9% of the people on that road were interstate or intrastate travelers. And of course, those that had entered from Canada could have been checked out as they entered the country, which is what a rational government would do.

Where was I coming from? Where was I going? Where was I born? Well, I faced a choice. I could tell him it was none of his business, and I was reasonably certain I could get away with it, since at least for the moment, American citizens still have the right to travel in their own country without accounting for their comings and goings to the government. Or I could tell answer his questions, and avoid the possibility that he would make my life miserable for a while. Well, we had places to go and people to see, so I chose a middle road-I was snarky. Where was I coming from? "Up the road". Well, that didn't work. He was curious about how far up the road I might be talking about, etc. So, I fell into line, since I needed to get out of there.

Still, it's nice to know that they're there. I'm sure that they will, no doubt, intercept any number of terrorist on that road, who will surely enter the country in a car from Canada, and proceed to tool down the main highway to Boston. And no doubt, should they reach that checkpoint, they will honestly answer that they are on their way coming from Al Qaeda headquarters in wherever and going to Boston to blow up the U.S.S. Constitution.

As it turns out, one of the people we were going to see had been forced to run that guantlet on numerous occasions, and finally did simply tell them that it was none of their business. Apparently, it worked.

Why is our government involved in such a wholesale invasion of our constitutional rights? We can put aside any idea that they actually think they can catch any terrorist using that checkpoint. I'm guessing there are two reasons. The first, because it's important that they justify their existence, and spending money on useless endeavors like that checkpoint allows them to puff it into something important on their funding requests. Second, and this may or may not be a consciously intended, it is a method to get us used to living in a police state, one little intrusion at a time. If they do it often enough, then that minority of us who react with impotent rage, rather than docile acceptance, will become ever smaller. Pretty soon, any show of resistance will come to constitute probable cause that a crime has been committed. After all, if you have nothing to hide, why do you have a problem with your phone being tapped, your email being read, your web visits monitored, or your comings and goings tracked? All in all, just another brick in the wall.
Posted: Sunday - June 18, 2006 at 08:07 PM          

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