Flexing the Police State Muscle

If you live in Alabama then you probably already know that this week State Troopers, city police and county cops are out in force on our highways and byways. Suppossedly this is for the safety of the public and to "take back the highways." I say that explanation is a big ol crock of shit. This is nothing more than a massive revenue grab and a flexing of police state muscle to show us lowly citizens who's really in charge.

The following is from the Montgomery Advertiser

Troopers issued 5,989 tickets on Monday, the first day of the five-day "Take Back Our Highways" campaign. An extra 200 troopers are on the state highways during the blitz.

Of the 5,989 tickets issued Monday, 3,281 were for speeding and 944 tickets for seat belt or child restraint violations, Teague said Tuesday.

Whitney Beshields, an 18-year-old high school student from Mobile, was among those pulled over Monday by troopers for not wearing a seat belt. She told the Mobile Press-Register that she was in a rush and forgot to buckle up.

The crackdown "is really not a bad thing," she said. "They are just trying to make sure everybody is secure, that everybody is safe, because there are a lot of things going on right now."

In addition to the traffic violations, troopers made 101 non-traffic arrests, such as for illegal drugs, and issued 200 warnings.

The figures by the Department of Public Safety do not include tickets issued by city police and county deputies.

State Public Safety Director Chris Murphy planned the crackdown - including putting officers on the road who normally handle administrative duties - because Alabama's traffic deaths were going against the national trend.
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The above statement from young high-school student Ms. Beshields scares me badly and makes me sick to my stomach. It shows how eaisly accepting citizens are of police state tactics, the loss of our rights and liberties and so forth. "Oh, they're just trying to make us safe." BULLSHIT!

They do not have the right or the legal authority to "make us safe" by forcing us to wear seat belts. That is not their job nor the job of the legislature which passed the seat-belt law. If I want to be unsafe and the only person I am putting in harms way is myself then that really ought to be my business.

And, if this is really about safety then what happens on Saturday when Police State Week is over and everybody goes back to their desk job? Does anyone really think that all drivers will start obeying speed limits, using turn signals, wearing seat belts and carrying insurance? No...of course not. When the police are out of sight they will also be out of mind.

No, this isn't about making us safe it is about taking our money, it's about police finding ways to invade your privacy and search your vehicle and it's about making the public think it is about "safety" so they will swallow it hook, line and sinker. It is also about getting the public used to seeing that many cops so that when martial law is declared at some point in the future no one will notice anything out of the ordinary.

"Oh...those guys in riot gear with huge automatic weapons on every street corner.... don't worry about then....they're just there to make us safe."