Thought Police Encounter Crimethink at Newaygo High

[XLFD]

You may have noticed a couple of nods in the headline to the novel 1984 by George Orwell.  This novel portrayed a dystopian future, where an entity known as Big Brother (ran by the vigilant government) watched over the security of everyone in the fictional Oceania province.  A definitive work showing what happens to a society when security takes precedence over liberty.

In 1984, one who thought outside the official government platform was engaged in 'crimethink'.  Words, actions and inactions could get one in trouble if it indicated your thoughts were unorthodox or socially unacceptable.  Thought police would be notified to remedy the situation, which normally amounted to detainment (to remove the threat from the general population) and coercive correction efforts (to make one be able to goodthink again).

In our modern society, the threat of terrorism has moved us towards this Orwellian nightmare.  It slowly creeps into our social conscience, so for many it gets hard to spot.  An incident that took place in a local high school this last Wednesday illustrates how deeply these beliefs are embraced by our officials (school and police) and our media. 

http://fox17online.com/2015/12/19/two-teens-in-custody-after-posing...

A significant portion of our society will read an article like this and be relieved that the quick action of the staff member and the responding police potentially stopped the next Columbine from happening.  They will call for the students to be charged to the fullest extent of the law, after all they did lie to the police. 

But let's review what happened here.  When the staff member eavesdropped, a student was talking about purchasing a gas mask, which is not illegal in Michigan to purchase and not even a weapon, it is only used defensively; firefighters use them regularly in the course of their job.  The article also mentions 'tactical gear'.  Since gas mask was the only thing specified, one has to presume that this was what triggered the red flag that went up, and after the initial investigation, there was nothing else in the tactical gear any more incriminating.

Then we are told that both 18 year old students were arrested.  One was put into police protective custody, which is typically afforded to victims of crimes or to protect vulnerable people from harm.  But then he is also under suspicion for posing a danger, so it is definitely unclear as to why he was arrested. 

The other teen who talked of gas masks was arrested for lying to a police officer during the investigation of a violent felony.  The law used, MCL 750.479c, says that such a charge could net the student a four year felony (subsection 2(d)(vi)), and yet, the article fails to mention what violent felony was being investigated in the course of the response.  Unless mentioning gas masks and visiting websites that sell tactical gear are now considered violent felonies by the Newaygo Police Dept. 

The major lesson to learn from this charge against this young man is to assert your right to remain silent when the police question you.  You cannot get in trouble for this assertion, even the above law acknowledges this in subsection 4(b).  If you are a suspect, ask for your right to an attorney, then clam up, even if you're innocent.

With the information available, what is an intelligent citizen of America supposed to think?  Is mentioning the purchase of a 'gas mask' enough to get you arrested if someone else overhears you and gets anxious enough to call authorities?  Can the police arrest you for a crime, and then tell everyone that it is 'protective custody' at the same time?  If you were a parent who had kids going to NHS, would you feel that your kid was safe at school, when such a vague and absurd news article comes out like this? 

Many young men of this age are considering joining the armed forces because of the lack of quality job opportunities in the area.  It is not untoward for such men to be looking at purchasing protective equipment like gas masks, especially when they see the growing evidence that our society is failing and our police officials are becoming paramilitary organizations themselves, capable of doing great harm to the citizenry, even innocent ones. 

If the young men have no weapons, and have nothing worse against them than what is in this article, such fears would not be unfounded, seeing that the police and FBI look to have done that here in a classical overreaction scenario in the Age of Terrorism; one that could have easily found its way into George Orwell's book.  Let this be a lesson to all.

[Willy]

I would be curious to know what the "suspicious information" was that they found on the school computer which was referred to in the news article. I imagine that the information found on the computer was the real reason they were put into custody and not their conversation about gas masks and such.  If the information off the computer was regarding threats of violence then the police may have had no alternative but to put the boys in custody until this situation could be figured out.

[XLFD]

The article, and presumably the Public Information Officer of the NHS incident command, labelled it as a 'potential threat' right off, and gave no indication otherwise throughout the article that it was anything more.  A potential threat is one capable of becoming an actual threat, but not yet in existence.  A kid with a compass in geometry class is a potential threat to stab someone with it.  A kid playing the drums in band has the potential to assault someone with the drumsticks.  Two kids reading through a "Guns and Ammo" magazine in reading class could potentially be the next Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris. 

Was there a real, existing threat here?  What was the violent felony, was it a potential violent felony that may have happened if it wasn't nipped in the bud by the quick actions of the NPD and the FBI. 

When I was substitute teaching, there was a couple of older Freesoil boys that were always talking about hunting, armed forces, and guns in class while they were doing their written assignments.  Nobody I knew thought they were 'potential threats', they just enjoyed those topics. 

There probably is more to the story than what has been given (one would hope), but the questions then to ask is why that pertinent information was not given to the public, why were these two arrested for 'potential' crimes and why did one get arrested just to be put in protective custody.  

[Willy]

All good questions that need answers especially before any final conclusions can be drawn. If there was /  is a threat then the police have an obligation to release that information. If the police are sitting on the information for use in a future trial then hey are doing a disservice to the community.