Pre-Crime Policing

[uberreiniger]

Oregon man police apprehend a man because the think he might commit a crime.

Police can come to your home and apprehend you without a warrant if they think you might be thinking about possibly committing a crime. Think about that for a moment.

At least in The Minority Report the guy they were chasing was a Scientologist.

Comments

[lordhellebore]

That's like a bad mixture of Minority Report and Nineteen Eighty-four.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

And the coerced mental evaluation gives a slight seasoning of A Clockwork Orange too.

[nightshade-7976.livejournal.com]

Well, the good news is that that will never, ever stick...Usually they don't make an ass out of someone before arresting them...No, wait...

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

Not only that, but our government has never tortured anyone, anywhere.... wait...

[armageddonriver.livejournal.com]

Definitely one of the scarier things I've ever read.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

To give you a frame of reference, I am someone who actually respects law enforcement professionals and am always willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. So for me to have such a strong reaction to this incident and share it with other people, then it's a pretty damn serious thing indeed. The implications of what happened here go far beyond this one unfortunate man and his gun collection.

[armageddonriver.livejournal.com]

Indeed they do, and I'm with you. I'm hardly one to jump to the conclusion that officers of the law are out to get us, or anything like that. I guess that's what comes of being a reasonably law-abiding citizen. But this shit is just frightening. It really is like some dystopian sci-fi. It's something I'd write, not something I want to live.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

You and me both. And I'm not one to buy into alarmist dystopian hype. Assuming this article is accurate then this is just an isolated incident for now. But if the notion of "voluntarily" taking people to mental evaluations ever spreads then I foresee Ludovico Technique sessions for us all not long after that.

The bottom line is authorities decided to use coercive and intimidating techniques on a man based on nothing more than legal purchases that he made (firearms) and a mention from someone that he was having problems at his job. It's not a gun ownership issue, it's the issue of being arrested based on the things that you buy.

[watersaredeep.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty shocked reading this as I'm just 30 minutes outside of Medford. 0-o In a liberal state like Oregon, I'm really shocked this could happen. Heck, every neighbor I have but me, has guns and lots of them. Southern Oregon is very rural and guns are a big deal here.

I find it pretty funny that I only hear about my local news because of my flist who lives thousands of miles away! :D

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

I actually understand the feeling quite well, Anne. There are several shocking news stories here in America recently that I only learned about from reading the BBC's website...

[phillipalden.livejournal.com]

This kind of thing makes me glad my honey is a lawyer.

They try and fuck with us and they'll get a world of hurt in return.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

Honestly Phil, given that you're a gay social activist who frequently travels outside the country I'm surprised you haven't been snatched off the street in a black van already.

[phillipalden.livejournal.com]

I, too, am surprised. Between all the travel I do and the things I write about and post - they should have a cell waiting for me at GITMO

[solandra.livejournal.com]

Oh great. My state is now officially retarded.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

I'd say they were already at that point once they decided citizens should not be allowed to pump their own gas.

[solandra.livejournal.com]

And no sales tax so that they can rape the people who don't buy much! Oh my god the income and property taxes in this state are ridiculous, I hate it here. I mean, as if the hippies and organivegantards weren't bad enough.

[redstar826.livejournal.com]

I have to wonder if these articles are giving the full story. Saying that he was "very disgruntled" is pretty vague. What exactly happened that led his former employer to contact the police. People get fired/laid off every day without the police getting involved, and I highly doubt that this guy was the first person to get let go from this company. What made his situation different?

The police might very well be in the wrong here and this company may have been wrong to have contacted the police in the first place, but we shouldn't jump the gun (no pun intended) if we don't actually have all the facts.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

You make a valid point. But if no actual threat was made then it's a really scary situation and worth taking note of.

[adele87.livejournal.com]

How did I not realize you were a guy until now? Wow, I'm lame.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

Um... I'm good at being vague? lol, I don't know.

[adele87.livejournal.com]

You're the first guy on my friends list in a long time. Wow.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

[adele87.livejournal.com]

Neither. It was an observation.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

Well it's nice to be the different one :)