Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Martial Law in the United States.
A crime-ridden town in Arkansas has expanded a 24-hour curfew and ordered armed officers to continue patrolling the neighborhoods while extending their authority to stop and question any who pass by. Yesterday, the City Council for the town of Helena-West Helena voted unanimously 9-0 to allow police to expand that program into any area of the city, despite a warning from a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas that the police stops were unconstitutional.
When asked about the warning from ACLU, the Mayor James Valley said “Now if somebody wants to sue us, they have an option to sue, but I’m fairly certain that a judge will see it the way the way the citizens see it here… The citizens deserve peace, that some infringement on constitutional rights is OK and we have not violated anything as far as the Constitution.” The Police Chief said that they had yet to arrest anyone for not abiding by the curfew and were only questioning people about why they were outside. “Those without good answers or acting nervously get additional attention”… yea, armed guards arresting people and patrolling your town would certainly cause you to remain calm when being questioned with the fear that if you don’t provide a “good answer”, you’ll be thrown behind bars.
So to recap what he just said up there: It is okay to infringe upon constitutional rights but stopping people randomly without cause does not violate anything?
You know this is going to set a bad precedent with other towns following suit if anytime something gets out of hand and instead of following things judicially, everyone will start taking the law in their own hands and let the courts decide later on.
[Source: AP – Crime-ridden Arkansas town expands 24-hour curfew]