THE NEW POLICE STATE

In 2013, an international survey determined that the country that poses as the single biggest threat to world peace is...The United States Of America. The land of the free--where government is running amok and where citizens feel less and less in control every day. It may still feel safe to live in the US, but we are headed in the direction of a full-blown police state--a reality where we are not welcome to speak out against our own government. While the number of officer deaths is thankfully declining, the number of killings by officers is increasing. In 2013, 33 law enforcement officers were killed by gunfire. While it is a morbid statistic, it is the lowest number since 1887. Meanwhile, in 2012, police committed over 400 justifiable homicides for the first time in more than a decade. This trend would suggest that crime is increasing...but it isn’t. It only means that officers are more frequently resorting to violence.

Mayor Bloomberg’s failed “Stop and Frisk” policy allows NYPD to stop, question, and frisk anyone for contraband and weapons, often times without reasonable suspicion. In 2013 alone, New Yorkers were stopped 179,063 times. In 89% of cases, the person stopped was completely innocent. As well as doing very little to stop crime, the method is clearly racially motivated. Of those stopped in 2013, 56% were black and 29% were Latino, while only 11% were white. Until recently, prison was reserved for dangers to society. Now, you can be arrested and imprisoned for making nothing more than a human mistake. George Norris was sentenced to 17 months in prison after he forgot to get the proper paperwork and sold orchids to an undercover agent. Georgia Thompson, a state employee who accidently filled company data incorrectly, spent four months in prison.