Joined Nov 2005
L10: Grand Master
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Shots fired, officer down at MIT, suspect still at large, currently streaming live
April 18, 2013 at
10:37 PM
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I'm listening to my police scanner.....this is insane
Reddit has a thread of people following it, if you want to google it.
http://www1.whdh.com/video/7newslive
There have been reports of explosives and grenades. Also, a stolen police vehicle. I'm just relaying what others have reported....so who knows.
Reddit has a thread of people following it, if you want to google it.
http://www1.whdh.com/video/7newslive
There have been reports of explosives and grenades. Also, a stolen police vehicle. I'm just relaying what others have reported....so who knows.
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I'll bet you good money you could find somebody who would say "YES! Search every house one at a time!" for each of those criminals. Where do you draw the line? This is why we have a Constitution, and a Bill of Rights. You might draw the line at "burglar" but what if your neighbor wants your whole house tossed every time somebody spray-paints a building?
And if you want to make it conditional: then who sets the conditions? Who decides if this situation or that one warrants what amounts to martial law and a complete suspension of everyone's rights and freedoms? You? Me? Congress? The President? Who do we trust with that power?
Maybe there's more to consider here than a knee-jerk reaction to a horrible tragedy. Maybe it bears further contemplation instead of a pitchfork-and-flaming-torch mob mentality. MAYBE some folks have already thought about this and that's why some of us have different opinions than yours.
These guys are going around wrecklessly still tossing around bombs out of windows and even ambushed a cop for no reason at all. Your 'run of the mill' murderer, rapist, purse-snatcher tends to avoid confrontations like this, they also normally have traceable evidence/pattern which detectives and/or the FBI can follow.
I'm from the DC area. I know EXACTLY how the DC sniper situation played out. My family and friends were very close to several of the shootings and life was flipped upside down for us for a while. In that scenario there was no reason to go door to door, although they killed FAR more people than these two criminals.
It's not as clear cut as you think it is, there is profiling being done, but these types of decisions are always handled on a CASE by CASE basis.
People who get stuck on the "rights" issue tend to see everything as a protocol, everything needs to be by the book. A very strict "if this, then that". These types of situations are all unique. There is no step-by-step here, its a touch and go scenario.
The problem with making these kind of searches okay is that it gives them the green light to do it any time in the future simply by calling any situation an emergency. If they see someone enter a house or have some other evidence that indicates a subject may be in a particular house then they are clear to follow them in. Allowing random searches gets into some pretty scary territory.
Not to mention that if something like that was happening where I live I wouldn't just be sitting there hoping the cops would show up to go through my house and tell me it is clear. I would already have done it myself and would be watching for anyone suspicious that may get too close.
Well, that is assuming I didn't live somewhere that had already taken away my right to bear arms and defend my property.
People in Watertown are probably thankful as hell that these officers are there right now, and people here are sitting here acting like their rights are being violated and its better they be at risk then be safe.
The very reason they are doing this is because now there is a history of the suspects taking a hostage, meaning they are capable of taking further hostages. By checking door to door and pulling a homeowner out to question (to check for any signs of duress) they are only helping them.
For curiosity:
I hope the FBI releases the footage of S2 dropping his backpack. I guess it was right in the crowd (close to the front) that had the "mystery" garbage bag in front of the fence next to the mailbox.
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haven't read that anywhere.
Edit: No ID on the person, but the police are seeing movement (not dead.)
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