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Ian Birk Archive

Tuesday

29

March 2011

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COMMENTS

Too Much Outrage, Too Little Time

Written by , Posted in Big Government, Liberty & Limited Government, The Courts, Criminal Justice & Tort

First, a Delaware man battles big government, which is bravely protecting the peasants from basketball hoops:

More on that story here.

Next, Reason.tv and Radley Balko give the 3 Worst Cases of Police Abuse in 2011:

One particularly egregious case highlighted in the video is the shooting murder of John T. Williams (which actually occurred in 2010), a homeless woodcarver, for carrying a legal knife in a non-threatening manner (the knife was folded closed). The murderer with a badge, Ian Birk, was not charged with any crime despite a finding by the police department that the shooting was “unjustified.” He has since resigned from his position, and one can only hope that society will shun him for the rest of his miserable life. It’s the least of what he deserves.

Sadly, this kind of injustice is all too commonly allowed to occur in the nation’s police forces. Police turn a blind eye to police misconduct. Prosecutors refuse to go after those who they rely on to gather evidence and build their cases, even when they act with such gross disregard for the rights of citizens. Such abuses cannot be separated from the larger problem of big government and its negative impact on the welfare of the country, despite the best efforts of many law and order conservatives to glorify anyone who wears a badge. While there our many fine officers doing their best to uphold the law, the police institutions are more often than not part of the problem and in desperate need of reform.