Almost a year ago, in June 2020, during the height of the George Floyd madness, terrorism, and policing issues in 2020, I wrote about the police’s role in America. 05 March 2021, another auto-email clogged my email inbox, from Rep. Deb Haaland (D) crowing about H.R. 1280, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021. Rep. Haaland not only co-sponsored the legislation, but she also voted in favor of it passing. True to form, the legislation is 100% unconstitutional as police operations are State and Local Government jobs, and bribery is a crime!
Never forget, Charles Reich (1964), a lawyer and brilliant legal mind, wrote an article about “New Property,” where he discussed how that from WWII the government has been considering its citizens as property, how the bureaucrat picks winners and losers, and how this process has affected law. The premise that the government owns you is here to protect you and coddle you from the cradle-to-the-grave is the onerous millstone about America’s neck currently. After WWII, the government’s size exploded and has done nothing but grow ever since, all because the bigger the government, the more the bureaucrat has disproportionate power to inflict harm and enact a reign of terror in the government’s name.
Bringing us to House Resolution (H.R.) 1280, “The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021,” and while much of the act is aimed at the Federal Policing operations, the Federal Government wants to continue to exert uncommon and unconstitutional pressure over local police operations, which is unconstitutional. The power of money is how the Federal Government can control police operations unconstitutionally, mentioned in the bill, but outlaws selling military-grade equipment to police stations. Unknown in the legislative language, how is “military-grade equipment” defined?
Someone help me understand the naming of this legislation. George Floyd passed counterfeit money to a clerk, he was COVID positive, but that’s not listed as a cause of death. Floyd, according to the coroner, Floyd had fentanyl, cannabinoids, and methamphetamine in his system at the time of his death, although the drugs are not listed as the cause. A coroner stated that the level of fentanyl in Floyd’s body was 11ng/mL, and a lethal dose is 3ng/mL. Yet, the coroner refuses to consider this was an overdose situation before the police ever touched Floyd.
More to the point, prosecutors, in charging documents filed with the court, “revealed no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation.” More specifically, the coroner’s report claims Floyd had heart disease where an artery was blocked 75%, hypertension, and a sickle cell trait. Sickle cell is a mostly asymptomatic form of the more severe sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder that primarily affects African Americans. Why is police reform legislation being called after a person of dubious character who was actively breaking the law with his system full of drugs that make him crazy?
Honest question, we have a dubious character, walking around with a chemistry lab inside his body, with pre-existing health conditions, committing crimes, and the police are charged with his death. Yet, a piece of legislation is now named in his honor. How does this all add up? Why?
The liberal-leftists continue to claim rifles are military equipment, shotguns, body armor, vehicles with supercharged engines, and specific construction to protect a number of personnel riding; all these and more are considered “military-grade equipment.” Why is “military-grade equipment” under fire, again? When machine guns are available for criminals, why can the police not protect themselves? Louisiana recently had an ex-military member, in protective clothing, ambushing police; if the police are not similarly dressed and protected, are we not going to lose more police officer lives?
In the U.S. Army, I took a class on self-defense and one on security. The security class taught me how to hold onto another person using different restraining holds until the Military Police or another authority could arrive to take an offender into custody. We learned carotid holds, choke-holds, and other restraining holds to protect ourselves and keep us safe while patrolling for guard-duty. Now, with these holds being banned, what will replace them, more tasering? More shootings? Non-lethal weapons like sandbag guns and rubber bullets? When you have a criminal actively fighting and resisting arrest, what will an officer be allowed to do for their safety and the safety of the person in custody?
Let’s discuss bribery for a moment. H.R. 1280 “Mandate the use of dashboard cameras and body cameras for federal officers and require state and local law enforcement to use existing federal funds to ensure the use of police body cameras [emphasis mine].” Bribery is the act of bribing, and bribing is the inducement of behavior through monetary benefits. Why is legislation being used to control local and state law enforcement behavior using the taxpayer’s money? How many times do we see the Federal Government hellbent on bribing the State’s and local governments through the use of taxpayer money to behave as the Federal Government demands? Too bloody often!
One of the final aspects being cheered in H.R. 1280 is “the reform of qualified immunity so that individuals are not barred from recovering damages when police violate their constitutional rights.” I understand that qualified immunity allows for some abuses, but on the whole, the law protects more than it harms. Already America has people actively baiting the police to win outrageous sums of money, thinking that the court is a gold mine just waiting to bestow gifts and riches. How much more will litigation costs grow if qualified immunity is “reformed,” using a piece of legislation that is 100% unconstitutional?
I understand police make mistakes. But, as pointed out in the first article, police are tools of policy. When errors occur, the police officer is not to blame, but the mayors and city councils who are directing the police officers’ actions in the name of “Law Enforcement.” Laws are generated by the same legislative and executive branches that control what police operators are allowed to do in the name of “Law Enforcement.” Blaming the police is useless, fruitless, and the height of shameful behavior.
Justice for police operations mistakes should not include the officers unless there is clear evidence they operated outside the allowed policies and dictated procedures of their elected policy setters. Breonna Taylor’s case is a perfect example of how the elected representatives’ behavior created a problem that opened police operations to scrutiny. Floyd’s case is not a good example of anything other than the politics found in the coroner’s office, a topic beyond this article’s scope.
For the record, I support the police! I may not like how the VA Police have injured and harassed me; but as tools of hospital administration policy, the blame lies with the hospital administration, not the individual officers. However, I consider several officers’ operations abusive, which is another issue to be addressed by the hospital administration that allows poor behavior and unprofessionalism in the police officer’s enforcing hospital policy at the VA Hospital in Phoenix.
If your elected officials are “too soft” or “too hard” on crime, the blame lies with the politician enacting behavior-changing policy. If the criminal justice system is not to your liking, you as a free individual have two choices, use the ballot box to change the elected leadership or move to an area with the same ideals you support. Take informed action; leave the emotional tantrums to children!
© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
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