Ah, the Hartford Police are at it again: winning the hearts and minds of their victims customers one swift whack with a night stick at a time. This time some random and apparently very benign traffic incident leads to yet another ridiculous round of abuse of power and authority. As the police work hard to explain it all away behind closed doors, we can expect that their friends and benefactors in the A.G.’s office will again dismiss the whole thing as a case of “you can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs…” or whatever rationale they continue to use to condone this kind of egregious crap.
John P. Gregg has a great piece on the matter in today’s Valley News, in which former Hartford Selectman and former Hartford cop, Mark Donka, tries to justify the militant behavior of his former colleagues by invoking 9-11. No, really: because a bunch of Saudi whackjobs blew up two towers in New York city, it’s apparently okay for the cops in rural Vermont to indiscriminately use brute force with complete disregard for the most basic civil liberties and constitutional rights. With that kind of attitude displayed by elected officials and the funds flowing freely for tasers and other toys, it’s little wonder that the police feel free to do whatever the hell they want as they go about their business of “protecting us” from ourselves.
