Apparently some Georgia state senators have come to the conclusion that personal liberties and rights preserved by the constitution don’t really matter is law enforcement is working “in good faith.” SB-94 reportedly will make way for law enforcement to obtain secret search warrants, secretly retain seized property remove presumption of innocence by allowing search warrants to be obtained with probable cause that a crime is about to be committed, allow for anyone, whether certified as a law enforcement officer or not, to apply for issue of search warrants even if they have no duty of enforcing the law, and allow law enforcement to engage in illegal surveillance as long as they are doing so in good faith.
At a time when our jails are busting at the seams, when the U.S. has imprisoned a greater percentage of its population than any other civilized country in the world, including China, when various law enforcement agencies and jurisdictions are under scrutiny for abuse of power the state of Georgia wants to make it more difficult to hold law enforcement accountable? I’m seriously not believing this.
Supposedly, there were “good intentions” when the Habersham County sheriff deputies busted in a house and threw a flash-bang that injured an 18-month old. There were “good intentions”, supposedly, of sheriff deputies descending upon a house in Laurens County on the basis of the word of a known thief that there was “meth” in that house…and killing a good man who had no drugs in the house, or anywhere else
The answer to “bad results” is not to enable more people to be able to engage in acts to cause more bad results to happen, and then to give immunity to the results of their actions, all on the basis of “well, we acted in good faith.”
Source: The Political Vine, » Blog Archive » The Road to Hell (in Georgia) – Part 1
Don’t take my lack of support for GA SB-94 as a lack of support of good law enforcement. I fully support the vast majority of law enforcement officers who are out there to protect and serve a community. I want to protect these fine men and women wearing blue by eliminating the little tin-star tyrants that tarnish the reputation of the good officers out there. SB-94 will make reigning in bad police just that much harder. It can’t be allowed to pass in the form it has taken.
