Benjamin Franklin once warned, “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Those words were never so ignored in America as in Baton Rouge last year during the serial killer crisis.
White men singled out because of their race and the type of vehicle they drove were harassed and often assumed violent murderers.
The public allowed their quasi-prosecution because innocent women, more specifically, often innocent upper-class white women, were being slaughtered by some unknown perpetrator.
If someone objected to being swabbed or whatever the police wanted, people assumed they were responsible for the death of those women.
I am ashamed of myself, and I am ashamed that the society in which I live allowed it.
The same mindset of fear and revenge allowed Hitler to kill 12 million people.
Does anyone else find it ironic that the union of Baton Rouge police is asking for yet another salary increase?
The organization has erected signs proclaiming “Welcome to Baton Rouge: Protected by some of the lowest paid police officers in the country.”
These signs are appalling.
Louisiana is one of the poorest states in the country, isn’t it understandable that the state’s capital would have poorly paid police officers?
Baton Rouge is usually a superlative in poorly paid professionals (e.g. elementary and secondary teachers), why should the police be any different?
Additionally, what the sign does not say is the cost of living is relatively low in Baton Rouge compared to the cities to which it is compared.
The failure of Baton Rouge police (in both its management and officers) to identify the serial killer certainly does not demonstrate the force deserves a raise, actually quite the contrary.
Why didn’t the task force utilize more outside resources?
Why did the task force cut off local television stations giving preference to “The Advocate” when doling out information mainly out of spite because the television stations did something against its wishes?
The answer is simple. Power rarely yields power when power is being threatened.
What about the victims of Baton Rouge’s other serial killer?
Because they led “high risk lifestyles,” does that make their lives worthless in the forum of public opinion?
Baton Rouge’s media sprinkle their stories with this vague notion of “high risk lifestyle” as a signal for social leprosy.
The police, in their supreme ineptness, play up this notion that prostitutes don’t matter and drug addicts don’t matter to distract from the idea that the department is not doing its job — to protect all residents of this city.
The founding fathers often warned of the power of police and other tyrannical arms of government infringing upon the rights of citizens.
Winston Churchill told the Allied Powers they had nothing to fear but fear itself.
The Baton Rouge Police Department and many powers that be such as President George W. Bush try to evoke fear in order to take away constitutional guarantees.
The blessings of liberty cannot be secured if society supports an incompetent government bureaucracy begging for more money on the basis of security.
Over the last few years, the union has sought and received several salary increases for police officers.
Enough is enough.
Just because you throw money at a bureaucracy doesn’t mean the system will improve or recruit better talent to the system, a mistake the state and federal governments make over and over again with the school systems.