Welcome to the police state you servile red state morons.

Quoted Text

[Police are] going to be in SWAT gear and have AR-15s around their neck," Stovall said. "If you're out walking, we're going to stop you, ask why you're out walking, check for your ID."

Stovall said while some people may be offended by the actions of his department, they should not be.

"We're going to do it to everybody," he said. "Criminals don't like being talked to."

Gaskill backed Stovall's proposed actions during Thursday's town hall.

"They may not be doing anything but walking their dog," he said. "But they're going to have to prove it."

http://www.paragoulddailypress.com/articles/2012/12/15/top_story/doc50cbbb312e241511092932.txt

A nation of sheep will get a government of wolves

The Police State Comes To Arkansas
Posted: 12/18/2012 7:56 am


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Unfortunately, not an exaggeration:

    "[Police are] going to be in SWAT gear and have AR-15s around their neck," Stovall said. "If you're out walking, we're going to stop you, ask why you're out walking, check for your ID."

    Stovall said while some people may be offended by the actions of his department, they should not be.

    "We're going to do it to everybody," he said. "Criminals don't like being talked to."

    Gaskill backed Stovall's proposed actions during Thursday's town hall.

    "They may not be doing anything but walking their dog," he said. "But they're going to have to prove it." . . .

    "This fear is what's given us the reason to do this. Once I have stats and people saying they're scared, we can do this," he said. "It allows us to do what we're fixing to do." . . .

    "To ask you for your ID, I have to have a reason," he said. "Well, I've got statistical reasons that say I've got a lot of crime right now, which gives me probable cause to ask what you're doing out. Then when I add that people are scared...then that gives us even more [reason] to ask why are you here and what are you doing in this area." . . .

    "Anyone that's out walking, because of the crime and the fear factor, [could be stopped]," he said . . .

    Individuals who do not produce identification when asked could be charged with obstructing a governmental operation, according to Stovall.

Here's the least surprising line in the article:

    Stovall said he did not consult an attorney before announcing his plans to combat crime.

Stovall added that he realized there was little difference between what he was proposing and martial law--and that he didn't much care.

The mayor and city attorney have apparently walked the idea back, at least a little. But the police chief isn't wavering. And of course it's his cops who will be enforcing the law.

Using SWAT teams for routine patrols isn't uncommon. Fresno did this for several years in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The city sent its Violent Crimes Suppression Unit into poorer neighborhoods and stopped, confronted, questioned, and searched nearly everyone they encountered. "It's a war," one SWAT officer told Christian Parenti in a a report for The Naiton (not available online). Another said, "If you're 21, male, living in one of these neighborhoods, and you're not in our computer, then there's something definitely wrong."

A 1999 report in the Boston Globe found similar units patrolling the streets of Indianapolis and San Francisco, which the reporter noted gave the communities under siege "all the ambiance of the West Bank."

In a 1997 survey, the criminologist Peter Kraska found that about one in five cities in his survey used their SWAT teams for routine patrols. It seems likely that number has fallen since then as the crime rate has dropped (the Fresno VCSU was disbanded in 2002), but it's hard to say for sure. The total number of SWAT teams has only increased since then, as has the number of situations in which they're utilized.

But Stovall's comments show that it isn't so much a rise in crime that allows these sorts of police actions to happen, it's the fear of crime. (Though there has been an actual increase in crime in Paragould.) Back in the early 1970s when Nixon was preparing to impose his new crime bill on Washington, D.C., he ran into a problem. According to FBI data, crime was actually starting to fall in D.C. Nixon's strategy was to make D.C. the "model city" to show off his tough anti-crime policies. The fact that crime was already falling presented two problems: 1) It could make the city less fearful, resulting in less pressure on Congress to push through his bill, and 2) it would make it more difficult for Nixon to claim credit for any crime drop in the city later. So Nixon's Justice Department sat on the figures. They refused to release them until after they had won on Capitol Hill.

The fear of crime is ever-present, even when crime isn't. For example, despite the fact that the crime rate has been dropping dramatically for nearly 20 years*--to historic lows--70 percent of Americans still think crime is getting worse.

I'm sure the cable news obsession with sensational crime stories and the emergence of tragedy vultures like Nancy Grace have a lot to do with it. Long-developing trends like the crime drop by definition aren't daily news. Crime is, even when it's down. I've seen it stated over and over in the Newtown coverage that mass shootings are on the rise. As I pointed out in the morning links, there is no evidence for that, and in fact the numbers suggest they're on the wane. They happen so infrequently that there simply aren't enough data points to say for certain.

Unfortunately, empirical data aren't nearly as compelling as images of victims and mug shots of scary-looking criminals. And like Nixon, today's politicians and law enforcement officials know that you don't pass new laws and give the police new powers by assuaging public fear. You get these things by stoking it.

Quoted from Libertarian4life

    "[Police are] going to be in SWAT gear and have AR-15s around their neck," Stovall said. "If you're out walking, we're going to stop you, ask why you're out walking, check for your ID."

What happens if you answer that you are exercising your rights by watching the police actions
to make sure no ones rights get violated?

PPD cancels town hall events
Police Chief Todd Stovall addresses residents at a town hall event on Thursday. Stovall announced the creation of a street crimes unit at the meeting, which was the second of four planned events. Following public outcry, the remaining two town halls planned for tonight and Thursday were canceled.



Future of proposed street crimes unit remains unclear
BY RYAN SAYLOR
rsaylor@paragoulddailypress.com
Published: Tuesday, December 18, 2012 12:05 PM CST
Paragould police have canceled the remaining two town hall meetings that had been planned to discuss crime in Paragould after extensive public outcry over the department’s controversial proposal to lower the crime rate.

While a press release on Sunday made it appear as though PPD was reinforcing its decision to use armed foot patrols to stop citizens on the street and request identification, along with a reason for them being in the neighborhood, starting in 2013, the decision by police to cancel the town halls late Monday afternoon left those plans unclear.

In a statement on PPD’s website, the department said the town hall events were canceled in the interest of public safety after speaking with “numerous” residents and non-residents on Monday.

“Some of the correspondence has caused us great pause in whether or not the meetings should remain as scheduled,” the statement read.

“We feel that with the strong feelings on both sides of the Street Crimes Unit issue, a safe and productive meeting would not be the probable outcome.”

The meetings, scheduled for today and Thursday at 7 p.m., would have followed two previous meetings on Dec. 11 and Dec. 13.

Sunday’s press release struck a softer tone than Police Chief Todd Stovall’s harsher rhetoric at the Dec. 13 meeting, where he announced the creation of the street crimes unit.

At the time, Stovall said the street crimes unit would be deployed to high crime areas and would make contact with all pedestrians.

“If you’re out walking, we’re going to stop you, ask why you’re out walking, check for your ID,” Stovall told a crowd of nearly 40 that had gathered at West View Baptist Church.

Mayor Mike Gaskill followed Stovall’s statements by explaining that a simple walk with a family pet could get a resident stopped and questioned.

“They may not be doing anything but walking their dog,” Gaskill said. “But they’re going to have to prove it.”

Sunday’s press release, while softer in tone, essentially restated Stovall’s original position.

The release said once an area had been identified as a “high crime neighborhood,” officers would saturate the area in order to combat the crime.

“Officers would be working to identify residents in the affected area so that we can better serve our affected neighborhoods,” the release said.

Many times, the release said officers would not do anything more than make contact with subjects, handing out business cards and asking whether police could do anything for the subjects.

“During hours in which crime seems to be more prevalent (i.e. between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.), our process will become more stringent,” the release continued. “We will be asking for picture identification. We will be ascertaining where the subject lives and what they are doing in the area.”

Using information gathered during the patrols, police would then create a database of “go-to” suspects that could be questioned regarding crimes in the area.

During a visit to Stovall’s office Monday, he would not comment other than to say Sunday’s press release “speaks for itself.”

Therefore, it also remains unclear, if PPD forges ahead with its proposal, what course of action officers intend to take against citizens who fail to comply with requests to produce identification.

Stovall also failed to return calls Monday afternoon to comment on the department canceling the meetings.

PPD said its officers would also be in SWAT gear and carrying AR-15 assault rifles, though not on a consistent basis, according to the release.

Stovall explained Dec. 14 that while he had not consulted an attorney regarding the patrols, the department was within its right to implement the controversial stop-and-ID policy based on crime statistics and citizen complaints about rising crime in their neighborhoods.

Gaskill stepped back somewhat from his original position the day after the town hall event, explaining that police would respond to calls from residents reporting crime and would seek suspect descriptions versus random stops.

Gaskill also said PPD would not be profiling residents.

The PPD’s plan for the street crimes unit did not comfort some Paragould residents.

One of those residents, Richard Wright, lives on the east side of town and was out for a walk Monday morning.

“I don’t really like it,” he said.

Wright said if he were stopped simply for walking his dog down the street, he would be offended, though he felt he did not have any other choice to comply given the comments Stovall had made.

But another Paragould resident, Steven Hensley, said he was just fine with the proposed patrols by Paragould police.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “I know things get stolen around here. I’ve had a bunch of stuff stolen.”

Hensley said he would be happy to see police do exactly what they had proposed Thursday.

“If that’s what they want to do, let them do it,” he said.

“As long as something will work [to combat the area’s high crime], I don’t care.”

Attempts to contact city attorney Allen Warmath on Monday were unsuccessful because he was in court.

Gaskill’s secretary said the mayor was on vacation this week and was unavailable for an interview.

Cops are the good guys.  They are "us".  Ask box.  They are just the shepards tending to the flock(us).

Go back to sleep, nothing to concern yourself with.

Quoted from Libertarian4life

What happens if you answer that you are exercising your rights by watching the police actions
to make sure no ones rights get violated?

Nothing good I'm sure.
That's the kind of place where they say "I'M THE LAW AROUND HERE", and mean it.
The cops are more corrupt down there, than they are here, and don't expect an impartial judge either.

that guy needs a swat team to back him up....he's so fat they have to hold his penis for him just so he aims strait...