Consent to Search and Seizure: Beloit's Odd Curative for Gun Crimes

[XLFD]

Perhaps the oddest thing about this weird story is that the local news media around the Beloit, Wisconsin area reports on it with a straight face and without any regard to reminding their viewers of their general rights as a citizen of the United States.  Nor do they consider the consequences if the Beloit police conduct a 'successful' search at your home.  But here is the general story courtesy of WMTV-15 Madison :

 

Beloit Police are introducing a new initiative in an attempt to curb the city's violence problem. Police are offering to make home visits to help citizens locate guns in their house.

Police Chief Norman Jacobs (above) says often times, people aren't aware they might have guns in their house.  "There are people in every community who don't know what's going on in their house, for example, persons who have teenagers coming and going," Jacobs said.

The initiative is in response to the surge in homicides in Beloit this year. So far, the city has had eight, up from just two homicides last year.  "These are just violent incidents with people who have access to guns and are very violent people," Jacobs said.

Jacobs doesn't believe the new initiative is the solution to the city's violence, but believes it's a start. This initiative, he hopes will get people thinking about what's in their homes.  "I could tell the community was reaching out and looking for answers to this violence," Jacobs said.  The "Consent to Inspect" program involves an officer coming out to a citizen's house, having the homeowner sign proper consent forms, and searching designated areas for weapons.

Beloit youth pastor Keith Stamper, with Community Baptist Church of South Beloit, believes the end to the city's violence problem begins inside the home. He believes this is a way for parents to get involved and take responsibility.  "Let's start at home, let's get them to talk about it, let's get them to search their rooms; but too many times parents are raising kids as friends, and they're scared to search their rooms, and that's what we need to do, and if they're scared, have the police do it," Stamper said.

                              "First they came for the hidden guns, and I did not speak out, because I had no hidden guns..."

As you might tell, the trusted TV journalists of WMTV seem to admire the policy and trots out the chief and a black youth pastor who encourage people to let the police into your home and search all those areas your afraid to, in order to find those hidden, illegal firearms that are so deadly.  Maybe they will find other things you didn't know about either.  Surely they will help you figure out how they may have gotten there and be totally understanding of what you tell them.

But let's look at some other media in the area:  WISC TV allows the chief to voice what a great program it is and offers how it would work.  Once an officer has verified that the person who requested the inspection is a homeowner, they will inspect only the sections of the household permitted by the owner.

This will be great for landlords who don't want to go through a lengthy or costly eviction of a problem tenant.  Guns are costly, so if they plant some illegal drugs, child porn, or other contraband in the tenant's area and give the Beloit cops a call of their concern about them having a gun, they will soon have the problem solved.  This will also work for troublesome roommates, parents, and offspring living under the same roof, but will need a little more finesse.   

The Beloit Daily News, much like our area's Daily News, ignores countering the chief's logic just like the previous sources.  He adds here:  "“Guns not only are used in robberies, but they are used for suicides,” Jacobs said. “Easy access to weapons, especially weapons that you don’t know about, are a threat to your family. It’s not a criminal living next door that might kill your family member. You might have a family member that is suffering from some type of mental illness and easy access to a weapon could end their life.”

I'm sure that arrest for having an illegal gun and whatever else the police find will really cheer them up, and that sense of betrayal they will have in their own family member who gave them a needless criminal record will give them a reason for living.

TV stations WTVO/WQRF offer a brief story and in their video the black anchorman assures us that the chief told him that the Beloit police would only remove the weapon, not press any charges (but fails to have that statement on camera) in these weapons checks. 

So, if that discovered weapon was used in the commission of a crime, there would not be further investigation and prosecution of whoever might have used it?  What a convenient way to get rid of a murder weapon.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin Public Radio has Chief Jacobs offering the following analogy in yet two more local news articles without any sort of balance:  "Gun violence is as serious as the Ebola virus is being represented in the media, and we should fight it using the tools that we've learned from our health providers."  WPR offers his additional observation:  “Maybe we'll find a toy gun that's been altered by a youngster in the house — and we know the tragedies that can occur there on occasion.”

Now why would anyone want something as malign as the Ebola virus lurking somewhere in their homes, when the Beloit police are ready to be your health professionals?  But maybe if a youngster has altered a toy gun into something capable of inflicting great bodily harm, shouldn't we perhaps encourage him into an engineering career, rather than giving him a juvenile criminal record.

Fortunately, shortly after these articles became news, the alternative news media quickly mobilized and alerted the country to this silly Beloit initiative, and its potential consequences which will only result in a worse mess when we consider what can happen, and what would happen if taken another step or two. 

Americans, even ones who have committed no crime, have rights to privacy, rights against unlawful search and seizure, and the right to not incriminate themselves.  Inviting police into your house to look around for guns is a sure way of neutralizing your rights, getting your property damaged or seized, and getting you in potential trouble even when you have done nothing wrong.

[Willy]

The police chief may be well meaning but he still is encouraging action that puts peoples civil rights at risk. If one analyzes the problem it is easy to see the cause. "Scared" parents. If a parent is scared to search through their own home because they fear whoever is living there then guns really are not the problem. The problem is their lack of parenting or poor parenting. People seem so eager to relinquish theirs and others rights without considering the consequences or what precedent they are setting.

[XLFD]

The youth pastor mentioned in the original article above was probably one of the few people that could be found to talk positively of the 'consent to inspect', whose contribution was to mention that parents are raising 'friends' rather than rearing kids, and so they are scared to search their personal effects and this policy would have the police do it.  "I respect you as a friend so I won't search your stuff, but I will have the police do it, who are duty-bound to enforce whatever law they might see being broken." 

Gee, thanks for being my friend, Mom and Dad.