LAPD Freaks Out America With New Orewellian Ad (But It's OK If The Obama White House Does It)BARF

True/Slant ^ | 10/24/2009 | Allison Kilkenny

[Dallas59]

Video Clicky Here

The LAPD has just released a new Orwellian commercial for iWatch, a program that encourages residents to spy on each other and report any “suspicious behavior” (whatever that means) to the authorities, who we’re assured will sort everything out.

Unsurprisingly, many people are reacting negatively to the ad. Huffington Post commenters call the ad “scary,” “hysterical,” and one individual muses about how long it’s going to take Apple to sue the LAPD for copyright infringement. NBC Los Angeles declares that the LAPD is “creeping out America.”

This isn’t the first time a creepy spying ad has hit the airwaves. A reader informed me that the post-9/11 Australian government formed something called the National Security Hotline, a similar program to iWatch.

These kinds of anonymous hotlines are ripe for abuse, and there exist endless possibilities of innocent citizens being reported by their neighbors for the crime of “Living While Being Arab.”

We all remember the terrible TIPS program, the Bush administration’s “solution” to its own catastrophic intelligence failure that led to the attacks of September 11, 2001. Not that anything was actually wrong with the intelligence. In fact, President Bush received an intelligence briefing a month before 9/11 with the title, “Bin Laden determined to attack inside the U.S.” that included the warning al Qaeda had been considering ways to hijack American planes. The intelligence itself was just fine, but the hapless Bush administration ignored the warnings.

After the 9/11 attacks, we were told the solution to terrorism was to have citizens spy on each other, and not to, say, elect a competent government. That’s when TIPS (Terrorist Information and Prevention System) was born, an initiative to recruit one million volunteers in 10 cities across the country that encouraged them to report suspicious activity that might be terrorism-related. An investigative political journalist, Ritt Goldstein, observed in Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald that TIPS would provide America with a higher percentage of “citizen spies” than the former East Germany had under the notorious Stasi secret police.

An editorial in the Washington Post decried the program:

“Americans should not be subjecting themselves to law enforcement scrutiny merely by having cable lines installed, mail delivered or meters read. Police cannot routinely enter people’s houses without either permission or a warrant. They should not be using utility workers to conduct surveillance they could not lawfully conduct themselves.”

The United States Postal Service stated categorically it would refuse to allow its mailpersons to participate, and the ACLU wasted no time in calling the TIPS program exactly what it was, “a contingent of organized government informants” and “government-sanctioned peeping toms,” and an “end run around the Constitution.”

The Constitution. Remember that thing? The Fourth Amendment guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, and includes the right to a reasonable expectation of privacy. Maybe Americans have gotten so accustomed to the government spying on their phone calls, and indefinitely detaining detainees without trial or presented evidence, that the occasional citizen spying program doesn’t seem unusual to them anymore.

Operation TIPS was officially cancelled in 2002 when the Homeland Security Act was passed by Congress. However, in 2008, the Denver Post reported that 181 individuals, including police officers, paramedics, firefighters, utility workers, and railroad employees had been trained as “Terrorism Liaison Officers” to report suspicious information which could be signs of terrorist activity, a virtually identical TIPS program, and a classic example of “same shit, different toilet.”

Now, the LAPD appears to be implementing a mini-TIPS program. Hopefully, similar outrage from L.A. citizens will lead to the cancellation of iWatch. It’s the job of law enforcement and the government, and not citizens, to police the streets. Citizens are not trained in information-gathering techniques, and there’s a reason law enforcement must obtain warrants before violating an individual’s privacy. Programs like TIPS, or “Terrorism Liaison Officers,” or iWatch are all different names for the same thing: unconstitutional spying.

In an article opposing the TIPS program, Marjorie Cohn, an associate professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, quotes, “Watch out for well-meaning men of zeal,” words penned 74 years ago by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. Indeed. Watch out for well-meaning persons of zeal, whether they sit in the Oval Office or in the LAPD headquarters.

[Osage Orange]

What division?

[oneolcop]

North Hollywood, West LA, Foothill, POffice of Operations, Planning & Research, Southwest, OWB CRASH, Van Nuys, Hollywood.

[oneolcop]

I spent 21 years on the LAPD and another 10 on other departments. I retired as Chief Deputy/Undersheriff (second in command) of a county Sheriff's office. I am an OathKeeper. I signed up just after the site came online. In 27 years in leadership positions I demanded integrity in my subordinates. I taught police ethics for the US Dept of Justice and in in-service training. I guess I have a pretty good handle on the subject.

If you sit passively stewing about the bad attitude of a few of the police you're not "in the game". Police leaders need to know about these bad apples. The chiefs and bosses are home in bed when most police contacts are made. If they're not they're in their offices checking mail, working on budgets and deciding what to order for lunch.

We citizens (yes, I consider myself a citizen) must insist that the police adhere to the spirit of the law. If we don't, the bad guys within government will win.

If you haven't done so, I suggest you call your police agency and ask about their policies and procedures. Don't be put off by the phone answerer, find a way to get to the boss. Invite him/her to a community event and make him/her feel like you are not just another angry complainer. Every law enforcement agency has chronic complainers. You need to avoid being put into that category. Make your first contact a positive one. Win them over and make them see that you're not a problem, but a supporter.

Chances are they'll be defensive at first. Virtually nobody comes to the police and gives them good news. Treat them like you would a colleague. Then slip in your concern. If you're blown off, then you know you've got a real problem. The people need to stop expecting that the police will take care of problems without them. That just isn't reality.

[longtermmemmory]

but now with hate crime laws, you can be reported for the thought crime of being Republican.

[Nam Vet]

.....the crime of “Living While Being Arab.”

Being arab ?????

With the descriptors of potential terrorists from these groups, both in Los Angeles and Washington D.C., the main worry should be ....

Living While Being Constitutional Conservative !

Nam Vet

[swarthyguy]

>.a program that encourages residents to spy on each other and report any “suspicious behavior” (whatever that means) to the authorities

Well, no step is too much in the Jihad against Tabak.

And,

He’s barbecuing red meat again! With a beer in his hand!

[Hiddigeigei]

I am an OathKeeper. I signed up just after the site came online.

Good for you! I say that very sincerely. I pray the OathKeeper movement sweeps the country.

I’ve known a few policemen (retired). Most tell me that while in service they associated socially almost exclusively with other police. One even told me he was expected to and would lie in court to cover a fellow officer (unless it was too outrageous a situation).
I saw on TV what the police did to law-abiding folk in New Orleans.
Today I read an article about a grandmother in England who was visited (and threatened) by the British police at the request of her local politicians because she wrote a letter to her local government complaining about a homosexual parade. True, that was “over there.”

I realize that “the policeman’s lot is not a happy one.” They often have a demanding and difficult and even necessary job, and, so far, I have no personal complaints against them; but I really don’t believe that they consider themselves to be, or really are, “the people.”

[oneolcop]

but I really don’t believe that they consider themselves to be, or really are, “the people.”

I understand. We have to work to change that.

[uncitizen]

I believe this has more to do with making neighbors fearful of talking openly with their friends, neighbors, even family about what is going on, for fear of being turned in for talking against the govt. IT's so the people who watch TMZ do not find out what is REALLY going on in this country.

[bamahead]

Libertarian ping! Click here to get added or here to be removed or post a message here!
(View past Libertarian pings here)

[Biggirl]

Plus they do not want to be attacked by the thugs for being snitches.

[Still Thinking]

Thanks for your service.

[altair]

I tried to watch my neighbor but they arrested me for stalking.

Too bad you didn't see him or her naked, then you could get them arrested.

[oneolcop]

It was an honor.