Martial Law Means They Win
Is Stan Lawson out of his fucking mind?
I’m serious.
Earlier today, Stanley Lawson, president of the Harrisburg chapter of the NAACP urged the imposition of martial law for thirty days in the city of Harrisburg to help stop the recent string of gunplay in our streets.
Clearly, there is a problem facing our city. But it’s not just this city…it’s nation wide.
And Stan Lawson wants to take away the civil liberties of law abiding, tax paying, society-contributing citizens in order to restore safety to the poorest of neighborhoods?
Additionally, Lawson urged Governor Rendell to bring in the National Guard and impose a curfew in the city.
Which means that you and I and everyone else who participates in neighborhood clean ups, pays mortgages, takes care of our homes, patronize local businesses and raise families would have to be in our homes by a predetermined time nightly and pass M-16 wielding, Hummer driving soldiers.
Again- I ask- is Stan Lawson out of his fucking mind?
The violence in this city has increased of late- but we’re not at a critical mass. I don’t fear leaving my house. It’s 1:07AM right now and I just walked a few blocks without any worry of being shot or mugged. The people who are shooting each other aren’t killing and shooting at random.
And unless the majority of the 47,000 (and falling) residents of the city of Harrisburg suddenly get involved in the drug trade, we don’t have much to worry about either.
But Stan Lawson wants to take away our liberties to make the streets safer?
No thanks, Mr Lawson.
Step away from that microphone, sir. You’re only making things worse.
Lawson’s comment is insidious, as it threatens to scare people out of the city, including downtown, which, quite frankly, is the cash cow the city needs to ever get out of its financial problems.
Thus far, 2nd Street doesn’t seem to be affected, as the perception is that the problems are not downtown, but in other places in the city. That’s not an incorrect perception; most of the violence seems to be confined to 3 or 4 specific areas (13th and Paxton was such an aberration it’s not even work talking about). My approach would be this: identify those 3 or 4 areas and impose a kind of quarantine on them. Increase the HPD presence (use the state police if you need to to supplement this), and watch for suspicious activity.
If you find that activity, don’t abandon the constitution, instead follow the proper steps for warrantless and warranted searches. But, in these area, rather than let a lot of suspicious behavior go, actually impose what the police can legitimately do. Increase the police presence in these concentrated areas until the violence, and the attendant behavior causing it, decreases.
Finally, make sure it’s temporary. When you think you’ve solved the problem, cut back to normal levels. We are not in a police state, and shouldn’t ever be.
I’ve spent too many years on 2nd Street watching too many HPD wait around to break up yuppie fistfights, while ignoring the rest of the city. While there are systemic problems like the economy and the hip-hop culture that are at the root of the violence, reallocating the police to where the problems actually are (and can be proven to be with real evidence) is something that can be done today.
Jersey Mike has it right: Fuck you Stan Lawson. You are beyond stupid, if you think the law-abiding people of Harrisburg, PA are going to surrender their civil rights, just because your fucking Zulus are chimping out and killing each other for no apparent reason.