The Boston Globe reports on a medical malpractice case in which the defendant was confronted on the stand by his own blog. The case settled the next day.
Come to us with your problems, they say. Trust us. This irks me to no end. Organizing a meeting of illegal citizens with Homeland Security is a Bad Idea. Encouraging the very communities that have their civil liberties violated DAILY to work with the police just raises my hackles. Despite my distrust for officers, I can respect the concept of informing undocumented residents that they can go to the police to report crimes, without fearing their immigration status will come up. (Unfortunately, that is not true in all states, particularly the states who are deputizing their troopers as Homeland Security agents.) But I don't like the idea that citizens should be encouraged to regard police as general problem solvers - because they aren't. Police arrest people. That's their 'problem solving.' They won't help you with your immigration papers (or at least, they shouldn't be. They are NOT LAWYERS!) They don't get your family member / friend / significant other into counseling or into drug programs when you call them (another widely held misconception). And people should not be encouraged to trust police officers to search them without cause - because police are roaming the streets, illegally shaking people down, lying about how / why they found the contraband / evidence, and walking back out of the courtroom to do it again.
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