Civil Liberties

This coming Saturday (October 4) and next Monday (October 6), Chapel Hill Police and Carrboro Police respectively, along with representatives from their funding agencies, will be holding Public Forums, at which citizens will be invited to offer thoughts on the way they wish to be policed. I will be unable to attend the Carrboro Forum as I will be working. But I have written a letter to the organizers, a letter which is (amazingly) quite self-explanatory:

"Dear Carrboro Alderpeople, Chief Horton and David Andrews [Carrboro Town Manager],

I understand there is to be a Public Forum on Policing in Carrboro, held on October 6, at 7.00pm. I will not be able to attend, as much as I have expressed interest in this subject.

I am a shift worker, and like most shift workers, I need at least three weeks notice to be able to accommodate events to my work schedule.

Two weeks ago, we in Orange County, NC learned that six armored personnel carriers had been made available to law enforcement in our county. We are told, two weeks later, that elected officials within our county are still trying to track them down. Still trying. Two weeks later.

Let me deal with the immediate, and then I'll wax about conspiracy.

The immediate: I can forgive elected officials for not knowing where six armored personnel carriers might be. Maybe. Just. But, after two weeks, if you truly can not find them, and do not know what to say to your citizens about them, then you have no business serving.

Someone sold them. Someone bought them. Someone has a receipt. Some body of elected officials looked at some document saying, we want 'em, or we bought 'em.

And if not the latter, then who exactly is policing the police in our county, and cf. no business serving.

Unless, and here is where we get to conspiracy.

I remember back in 2011, when SWAT was deployed in Chapel Hill, to the anger, consternation, bemusement of the citizenry. As in, really, we have a team like that, why?

To be honest, I sense it has nothing to do with constitution, law or rights, and an awful lot to do with the fact that these folks do not like Republicans. And most large corporations are run by Republicans.

Look. I don’t much care for Republicans, either. But that does not mean that they do not have rights. And it does not mean that corporations do not have rights, too.