The actions of the few warrant abuse of the many

A few days ago, I was reading an article that was trying to figure out why more police officers are making the news for excessive force abuse such as tazzing grandmothers or young children. In a seemingly unrelated article, sheriffs in North Carolina are convinced the best way to get control of prescription drug abuse is to have access to everyone's medical records. The below article points out that this isn't a knee-jerk reaction but rather a policy the North Carolina sheriffs have been pursuing for many years.

The British police make the news on a disturbingly frequent basis for abuse. A recent article described how a 58 year old, 5'2" woman with no priors got the shit kicked out of her by a local constable. She looked like she went a round with a heavyweight boxer instead of having spent a night in jail.

What the heck is going on?

In the original "war on drugs", certain behaviors are demonized without regard to a look at the larger social implications. Marijuana users, growers or those in possession of the substance are subjected to mandatory sentencing. I don't hang around with potheads much but the few that I've met strike me as being some of the least violent people around. They seem to only want to smoke dope and munch on frozen burritos. Yet their marijuana habit will get them thrown into prison with hardcore sociopaths. Great, now we have more sociopaths.

The pressure for law enforcement to deal with the "war on drugs" created the mindset that any drug abuse is a serious crime. Potheads are treated no differently than a violent offender (rapists, bank robbers, murderers). The press feeds into this mindset by stirring the public into a lather because it sells copy. The public in-turn whips elected officials into a lather who then pressure law enforcement to take action. Our tradition of sound-byte politics only exacerbates the problem.

The "war on terror" created a similarly dysfunctional mindset. Everyone and everything is a potential threat to the homeland. The uncooperative little old lady or young kid with asthma could be a dangerous security threat. They need to be dealt with quickly and severely before others may be harmed.

The public gets whipped into a terrorism frenzy with repeated reports of terrorists, a potential war with Iran, illegal immigrants running amok in the streets, or radical Muslims plotting the next major attack against mom, apple pie and the American way. The constant bombardment of these images has a profound effect on our collective psyche.

Despite all of the increased security measures implemented since 9/11, everyone seems more tense instead of more at ease. A whole new federal agency (DHS) was created to make sure we stay safe yet citizens seem more afraid of the DHS policies than of the next terrorist attack. Arizona is having serious issues with illegal immigrants and for all of their concerns, the federal government is suing the state of Arizona.

Police are at the end of the day no different than the rest of us. They go home to their families and watch TV, listen to the radio or read the newspapers or Internet. They are not immune to the media bombardment of potential terrorists, disgruntled employees, angry youth, and illegal aliens. Unlike the rest of us they are in a position to do something about it.

Let a citizen start arguing with a cop and these days that can rapidly escalate into a confrontation. The cop is trying to deal with the situation, the stress of the job, the crowd that has now surrounded them, and all of the camera phones recording every nuance. Most of the time the cops can control the situation without it escalating out of control. But when it does, it is captured on video and sent out via Facebook and Twitter to the world.

Along with this comes the hype of "non-lethal" weapons. The term should be less lethal. If you hit a person with 50,000 volts, you run the risk of putting the person into defibrillation. Dog pile a suspect with a heart condition or that has been maced and you run the risk of heart attack. I've seen demonstrations of spray foams and netting that can be shot out of pneumatic guns akin to something Batman would have. The foam hardens immediately preventing the suspect from moving. However, if you hit the suspect in the face the hardening foam will suffocate them. The cool looking netting can strangle the suspect. Fortunately, I have not seen these Batman devices deployed (yet).

The police departments have bought into the notion that these things are truly non-lethal, at least until the suspect expires. Police officers forget about little things like adrenalin and oxygen. Chase a suspect and their body floods with adrenalin and is depleting oxygen. Now hit them with that stun-gun or spray them with mace. The suspect has difficulty breathing and their hearts starts going into overdrive. Now dogpile them when they don't respond to the officer's orders. Oops, you just made the headlines.

The military is fielding newr "non-lethal" technology that uses directed energy to super heat the outer layer of skin. Demonstrations show that there is no damage but the target feels like they are on fire. Of course what doesn't get reported is that just a little too much energy and now internal organs can be destroyed. There are also sonic devices that can cause disorientation by disrupting the inner ear function. There is interest by metropolitan police departments in such technology for crowd control or riot control in prisons. The police buy into the non-lethal hype and seem to ignore the horrifying effects (albeit short-term) the targets are suffering.

Society on the whole seems to want increasingly sensational headlines and the media, looking for profits in declining market, are only to happy to cooperate. Who cares about another oil rig failing in the Gulf when you can follow one moron down in Florida and whether he will burn Qurans. Look at the local news, you will be hard pressed not to feel all of your neighbors are criminals and are on drugs.

None of this should mean we should lose more of our rights and privileges in order to be safer from an unknown and unseen threat.

Sheriffs want lists of patients using painkillers - Crime/Safety - NewsObserver.com