Pubdate: Mon, 22 Mar 2010
Source: Tallahassee Democrat (FL)
Copyright: 2010 Tallahassee Democrat
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/hdEs6Z0o
Website: http://www.tallahassee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/444
Author: Margarete Withers

RED-LIGHT CAMERAS: ANOTHER INVASION

A college kid on his way home, doing nothing wrong, is hailed over by
a street cop. He's told it's a seat-belt check - a seat-belt check
by a street cop.

Not long ago TPD swept the south side checking out people who live in
poor neighborhoods. They were "cracking down on crime," but they had
no specific investigation, just random searching. They found a few
probation violators and some drug addicts, no surprise there.

If we do not challenge police violations and abuses of power, there is
no accountability for such activities as the Rachel Hoffman case.

Local law-enforcement will use aerial thermal radar to look into your
backyard sheds and homes, searching for "grow houses." Programs of
entrapment to lure law-abiding people into illegal activates or
"stings" put an unnecessary strain on our local treasury. And now, our
city fathers want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to
implement red-light cameras, which have been determined by courts to
be a violation of the law. If ever there was a time for a citizens'
review board, the time is now.

Margarete Withers
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake