28 November 2006

sheriff harry lee 'dont give a damn' about the constitution

yesterday, chad over @ the dead pelican took us to a louisiana weeky article by wst... fave christopher tidemore.
in the article the writer directly quotes a louisiana sheriff freely admitting to violating the constitution and bragging "...I don't give a damn. I'm going to do it."

zero tolerance
now here we have a chief law enforcer, of a parish, saying that he dont give a damn about the constitution the very thing which grants him the authority and/or more importantly limits his authority and specifically authorizes him in the discharge of his duties in the first place. no sheriff lee says hes going to do what he wants to do. how crazy is this? how can a sheriff just make up laws as he goes along? on sheriff lee's whim there is no reason to throw out the constitution and 2 1/3 centuries of tradition. instead, we should turnout lousy legislators, judges, sheriffs; those to whom its self evident that their allegiance is not to the constitution -- they are working against the constitution and against we the people. katrina & rita continue to teach us that the government cannot and will not protect us. oh its not so much that the government, bureaucrats, policemen and firemen, soldiers are all incompetent or crooked its that they are regular people they have their own families to lookout for and why should they have to put their lives on the line day after day in what amounts to a battlefield? city policemen and sheriff deputies arent supposed to be soldiers, they are our neighbors and friends, they used to be called peace officers.

extreme measures
which brings us to our next point, where are the law abiding, residents of these neighborhoods at? why arent they taking care of their neighbors and running off these hoodlums themselves? shouldnt the residents there take some responsibility for their neighborhood? are there any law abiding residents there? is the average jeffersonian resident a thug? not likely. maybe hoodlums maybe not even from new orleans originally, have taken over deserted parts of town to run their crime gangs from?. if thats the case then the governor should declare those neighborhoods under the control of insurgents and call in the national guard to surround them and then shoot them all down, get rid of them. its the governor's responsibility to restore and maintain order. dont ask regular policemen and firemen to do what is glaringly apparent a soldiers job. a terrible precedent is being allowed to be set here in that a sheriff who due in part to general lawlessness can no longer carry out his duties and responsibilities and is being allowed to do whatever he likes.

why are parts of louisiana being allowed to die? are there no honest people at any lever of power anywhere whatsoever in louisiana? the answer is yes! of course! but it appears that they are impeded by corrupt powers in high places.

Harry Lee orders videotaping gatherings of young men in high crime neighborhoods
By Christopher Tidmore, Political Columnist
November 27, 2006
jefferson parish, louisiana sheriff harry lee

louisiana weekly snip:

tuesday 21 november 2006 zero tolerance policy / extreme measures news conference sheriff harry lee.
Lee who said he doesn't plan to target blacks, but "bad guys," has designated fifteen of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Jefferson, most of which reside on the West Bank, to begin an aggressive program of videotaping groups of young men on street corners to detect drug activity.

The plan according to Lee includes mounting cameras in armored vehicles and patrol cars, as well as positioning them in high-crime areas. The images would go to a master tape, so, Lee said, "we know who's there."

The Sheriff noted that some might consider the actions unconstitutional. He explained, "If the three of us were standing on a street corner, we would be offended if a police car came up and started videotaping us. We would be offended. I don't give a damn. I'm going to do it."

Lee has allocated over $140,000 to purchase the new cameras.

The Sheriff said he would discuss the new policy with the NAACP and the ACLU, but he challenged them, even if it means a protracted court battle. "If I step on somebody's toes," he said, "so be it."

Referring back to last month's accusations that the Sheriff's office was planning on engaging in racial profiling, Lee said, "I'm not backing off in what I'm intending to do in those neighborhoods where I know the violence is. We are going to do some aggressive law enforcement things. I confess to you, that we will go right up to the line, and I don't want to cross the line."

EXTERNAL LINK

Posted by wst... at 12:34

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