Poor people subject to 24-hour curfew
ELENA-WEST HELENA, Arkansas (AP) -- Officers armed with military rifles, some with laser sights, have been stopping and questioning passers-by in a neighborhood plagued by violence that's been under a 24-hour curfew for a week. Chief Fred Fielder says only those acting nervous or lacking good reasons for being out get extra attention.
On Tuesday, the Helena-West Helena City Council voted 9-0 to allow police to expand that program into any area of the city, despite a warning from a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas that the police stops were unconstitutional.
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Chief Fred Fielder says only those acting nervous or lacking good reasons for being out get extra attention.
So, remember kids. To ensure that the constitution applies to you: 1) don’t be poor; and 2) don’t be nervous. If you can’t do these simple things, you don’t deserve freedom. Update: Pictures here.
And speaking of poor people, C&F reviews Speaking of Crime: The Language of Criminal Justice, by Larry Solan.
It points out another reason why the poor are poor. They don’t have lawyers. They say stupid things like “Maybe I should think of contacting an attorney . . ." which is definitely NOT the way to request a lawyer and assert one’s rights under the 5th or 6th amendment. One does this by having a lawyer and arranging the meetings in advance with the lawyer. Only communists and atheists meet with the police without a lawyer.
Now, of course, if a cop says "Have you a way of opening the trunk from there?" it is consent to search the trunk. Real people know this. Poor people don’t. That is why they are poor.
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