Flutterby™! : (not necessarily the) police blotter 2008-07-01 14:18:36.421709+00

(not necessarily the) police blotter

2008-07-01 14:18:36.421709+00 by Dan Lyke 2 comments

A few notes today on policing, private and public: First, town finds "federal" drug agent is really an imposter. Guy comes into Gerald, Missouri kicking down doors and busting up meth labs, pretending to be federal agent. Turns out he's just "...Bill A. Jakob, an unemployed former trucking company owner, a former security guard, a former wedding-performing minister, a former small-town cop..." out on a vigilante mission (Via.

Elsewhere, in Pasadena Texas, Joe Horne has been cleared for killing two men who were burglarizing his neighbor's house. In California, we're only able to kill intruders if we can show that they're after us, personally, not if they're just after property. I think I like the Texas take on this better (Via).

In San Rafael, prostitute helps police bust pimp:

Tariq Silas Shabazz, 28, was charged with pimping and pandering, each count carrying a potential sentence of up to six years in prison, said Deputy District Attorney Lori Frugoli.

Glad she was able to break through the stigma and contact the police for help, but I cringe for all of the women still caught between the police and their pimps by the illegality of prostitution.

The shooting was of two burglars coming out a neighbor's window. Both were shot in the back. The shooter had called 911, and told the dispatcher he had seen them, and that he was going to kill them. The 911 tapes demonstrate the operator pleading with the shooter not to go out and kill them.

It wasn't this guys house. He didn't know who they were. He was in no danger. The police were already on their way. The burglary was just used as an excuse to kill.

When I was a kid, my friends and I often met at night after going out our respective bedroom windows. What will happen when some guy decides to use this as an excuse to off his neighbor's obnoxious kid, who is just heading out to see his friends at night?

In NY, I have to show that a burglar was menacing me with a weapon in order to use deadly force. I am not happy about that either. If someone has come into my house, they should be taking their chances with an anxious and armed homeowner. On the other hand, I would not want to shoot if it could be avoided. I wouldn't want to live with that -- I don't think a reasonable person would.

My response to Joe Horne's situation is kind of my response to the death penalty in general: I'm not opposed to it in principle, it's that the subtleties of the application are distasteful. Really, there's not much difference between him killing these guys on the way out of the house and me shooting them when they come into my house before I've determined that they're only after my property.

I'd like other people to believe that he or someone like him lives in my neighborhood, but in the interests of not getting capped by some whacko accidentally (is it an accident if they mean it to happen, if I didn't?), I don't actually want him in next door.

(And I thought I'd linked to the previous stories about Joe Horne which, yes, detailed exactly the circumstances you describe, but I don't see 'em.)