Criminals may move to California
While listening to television earlier, I heard something that made me stop in my tracks. It seems California has more people killed as a result of police chases than any state in the United States. This is not shocking when you consider the sheer number of people in that state. BUT, as a result, there has been a bill introduced in the California legislature to prohibit police from pursuing the bad guy if he flees in a motor vehicle. OL' BC hasn't seen the actual bill, but this is really hard to fathom. What is the probability of a successful prosecution if an officer cannot immediately apprehend the perpetrator? What is the likelihood of a conviction if an officer is fortunate enough to get a license plate number and then loses sight of the vehicle and it is found minutes or hours later? I realize things are a little different in California, but this is on the cusp of total insanity. I can envision a mass rush of criminals to the left coast, but that could be a good thing for the rest of us.
Just a thought.
posted by Ol' BC @ 9:21 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
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Sir Loin of Beef,
I cannot think of a more effective way to prosecute an offender than to apprehend him/her ASAP. I don't think any honorable police officer is trying to "devalue" life by chasing someone who just killed
three people in a gas station, or held up a bank.
It's like war. There are going to be innocent casualties. This is always tragic. Does this mean we should let the guilty walk? Absolutely not. What would you have law enforcement do?
That's not what I said at all... I never said it was okay... the meaning of my statement is that it happens, and it is tragic, but it is what happens sometimes, as tragic as it may be.
Again, I ask you... what would you have law enforcement do? Let them go so that they can INTENTIONALLY harm more people, or pursue the criminal in hopes of stopping his/her madness, even though there are lives at stake and someone may be UNINTENTIONALLY harmed?
I can't see that there is really a happy medium. I'm not happy about innocents getting killed or injured, and I certainly hope it is not someone I am close to, or even myself, but it is a reality we all must face and live with...
Besides, I know this is an extreme illustration, but you can get killed walking outside your house man... There is risk involved in living. The only way to avoid risk is to stop living.
For that matter, you can get killed IN your house... it's tragic when someone is killed in a police chase, but it's just as tragic when someone slips and falls in their tub.
I'd really like to know what your answer would be to my question. What would you have law enforcement do? Don't try to avoid it by saying I have no compassion... that's just silly, you dodgeball champion, you...
And by the way, if we don't apprehend these "stupid thugs" then more brothers, uncles, sisters, wives and people just like yourself will potentially be harmed than if we did apprehend them. Your logic fails...
Let criminals run free, and we will have anarchy. Apprehend them, and we will be able to minimize the damage they cause... Universalist? Maybe... but I don't really see a happy medium.
An enlightened society? No, you're talking about an impossible society... there will always be people that are bent on doing evil... have you not read any history at all? There are evil people now, there always have been evil people, and there always WILL be evil people. To not police these evil people means that more innocents will be harmed than not. I cannot even begin to fathom your line of reasoning.
I do not contradict myself. To say that it must be accepted does not mean that I like it, and it doesn't mean that it is okay when an innocent is harmed... it is an evil that must be endured, whether we like it or not.
California is not proposing a solution... what they are doing is hanging themselves. To not police criminals is essentially a form of anarchy, for they are not being governed. And, to not try and apprehend them immediately is basically not governing them at all.
Do you realize how easy it would be for a "stupid thug" to disappear? Look at how much money and effort has to go into finding the ones that do get away. What you are proposing sounds ludicrous to my line of thinking.
I don't like it when civilians are hurt anymore than you do, but what I hate even more is the idea that a thug would be free to run the streets and harm even more people INTENTIONALLY.
Yes, there are still criminals out there roaming the streets. Yes, there are corrupt law enforcement officers out there. The sad truth is that these kinds of people will always be with us.
I'm just guessing that with your line of reasoning, you're against the war too. I suppose we should just roll over and take it from the likes of Osama and Saddam?
I wish I could understand people like you... sadly, you are blinded by your quest for the ideal society where there are no wars or famine, no hurt or pain, no crime or punishment.
That world, my friend, cannot be found in this reality, but only in the reality that is to come. I don't know if you even believe in God or any kind of afterlife, but I look forward to that day when I won't have to deal with the evil on this earth, the day when I will be in the kind of society you and I both long for...
But I am also a realist, and in our real and evil world, we must police the evil people. That means that mistakes are going to happen, and it means that there will be people hurt. I don't like it, you don't like it, nobody likes it. As a matter of fact, I hate it, but it's not the officer's fault, it is the evil criminals.
You still really haven't answered my question. What would you have the law enforecement officers do?
Jesus actually had a lot to say about enduring evil. I would like to direct you to Matthew 5.
His idea of salvation was not one that could be fully realized in this life, only in the life to come.
Yes, Jesus set forth peaceful principles for his followers to live by, but you can't expect a non-follower to live by those principles... There will always be evil people.
Now, we could get into the whole debate about what crimes should actually be prosecuted or not, and I'm entirely up for discussion on that one...
I don't have the time at the moment, but I will respond to this comment... I'll just say this for now:
What you are talking about is a church-run state. I thought people like you were the strongest propponents for a separation of the two entities.
You cannot expect a secular system (the U.S. government) to adhere to Kingdom principles in everything it does. The goal of the U.S. government is not to advance the cause of Christ, it is to advance the cause of the U.S.
Separation my friend, separation... As I said, I'll comment more later.
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