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First off, if you had in mind a picture of a guy with a five o’clock shadow and a cowboy hat on a wanted poster, I’ll have to disappoint you. I’m talking about a historical practice by governments, most notably Rome and England, of declaring someone outside the protection of the law. In US history, the phrase “Wanted Dead or Alive” comes to mind.
What it comes down to is that the government has declared, in some official way, that a person is beyond government assistance: no police protection, no right to trial. In these later, cozier times, maybe even no ambulance service.
Someone aware of being in this situation could be expected to behave accordingly. The world becomes a prison yard, and being hyper-aware of any threatening behavior by others or, in gang parlance, being “disrespected,” requires a severe reaction to everything if you don’t want to look like a target. You’re in enemy territory and help is not coming. Anyone menacing needs to be made an example.
In Minnesota and elsewhere, the police have been instructed not to assist ICE in any way. The practical impact of this is that ICE agents now have to make arrests while expecting to be followed in vehicles and surrounded by hostile crowds — some of whom expect prestige by pushing things that much further. No one’s going to expect the crowds to conform to a Chronic Demonstrator’s Code of Conduct.
The agents are very much in a hurry: they must get in, get out, and expect no help from the police. Consider yourself in this situation. You’ll respond, “I wouldn’t put myself in this situation.” Okay, understood. But I’m betting you wouldn’t behave as if you were in Dragnet, you’’d more likely act as if you were in Blackhawk Down.
I propose that, if we want everyone to be safer, it would be good for the politicians at the state and local level to expect the ICE agents to be treated as citizens, and to receive similar protections. That would mean having professional local cops on site, which would pay benefits beyond the immediate increase in safety. It might reset the agents’ expectations of the pace they have to proceed and the aggression they have to bring to the situation. They might even develop working relations with the local officers, the men and women who have thousands of hours’ more street time and who might come to serve as the role models I’ve often considered them. There are complaints of ICE’s inexperience — well, here you go. Experience rubs off.
Oh, and it would be nice if the places where they were eating and sleeping received a normal amount of protection also. That is, if we don’t want them to behave as if they’re in a war zone.
Discussion (16)
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The collapse of responsibile local government in Minnesota (absurd COVID fascism, surrender to BLM rioters, refusal to prosecute massive welfare fraud and now de facto alliance with Antifa) is only possible because sane Democrats refuse to clean up the disease taking over the party. Their failure to take corrective votes (the Minnesota GOP is not exactly a bastion of rightwing extremists) is a major cause. Don't like Trump? Don't like MAGA? All of that arose because of what you Democrats (and squish Republicans) allowed to happen.
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Very reasonable. Not going to happen in Minnesota. The Minnesota government wants confrontation, and to burn it all down. To some extent, so does the Trump administration, The main difference is that the Trump administration would be satisfied if immigration law was enforced, and Minnesota is doing this to AVOID having the law enforced. I am not particularly happy with the Trump administration tactics, but I cannot identify how I could improve them. I think America needs the Trump administration to be successful in having the law enforced in Minnesota.
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Well, if Minneapolis and Minnesota officials really wanted to minimize violence and conflict, they'd allow federal law enforcement to take custody of people illegally in the United States who are already in the custody of the Minneapolis or Minnesota criminal justice system, rather than requiring federal law enforcement to roam the streets to find them and take them into custody in uncontrolled environments, rather than in the controlled environments of courthouses, jails, and prisons.
If Minneapolis and Minnesota officials transferred the wanted people in the controlled environments of the criminal justice system, neither the federal law enforcement officers nor the public would be in a position of danger and potential violence.
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On the one hand, ubiquitous cameras made police busts accessible to everyone. Until the invention of the i-phone, police asked suspects to hop in the back of the police car, and they cheerfully obeyed. What did people think perpetrator apprehension looked like? Is physical contact going to happen? Yeah, no doubt. Apparently some significant proportion of the population does not understand believe that criminals don't just magically appear in jail.
On the other, body cams almost always prove that law enforcement is acting reasonably. Most people who see the body cam appreciate the restraint and professionalism of the law enforcement officers.
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Of course you wrote this in all facetiousness, but without cell phone videos and crowds of protestors on the side of the perps, I suspect criminals were a lot more cooperative (also they were hoping not to get a beatdown).
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