Get Your Float Tank: Florida Begins Pre-Crime Unit

[Kirk Freeman]

Straight out of Minority Report, Florida begins Pre-Crime Unit who will swoop in to prevent "crime" before it begins.

Knowing Government this is likely just a way to flush the taxpayers dollars but it sets a terrifying precedent.

Palm Beach County sheriff gets $1 million for violence... | www.palmbeachpost.com

 

[zippy23]

more money = more votes. simple as that. they specify it for anything that sounds like it will keep people "safe", its nothing more that paying off more voters.

 

[Magneto]

This will spread like wildfire. Once other departments see this they will start their own units. The sheeple will demand this in the name of "safety" and will line up to give their liberty away.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Didn't we all say we didn't need more gun control, we needed better resources for the mentally ill?

he teams will respond to citizen phone calls to a 24-hour hotline with a knock on the door and a referral to services, if needed.

This hardly sounds like Minority Report. It sounds a whole lot like IMPD's "CIT" program. Crisis Intervention Team, officers with a week's training on dealing with the mentally ill who are experiencing a crisis, threatening themselves or others.

Not sure why I should be upset about this.

 

[cobber]

Straight out of Minority Report, Florida begins Pre-Crime Unit who will swoop in to prevent "crime" before it begins.

Knowing Government this is likely just a way to flush the taxpayers dollars but it sets a terrifying precedent.

Palm Beach County sheriff gets $1 million for violence... | www.palmbeachpost.com

Probably the grant money for the War on Drugs is drying up. Have to feed the beast...

Didn't we all say we didn't need more gun control, we needed better resources for the mentally ill?

This hardly sounds like Minority Report. It sounds a whole lot like IMPD's "CIT" program. Crisis Intervention Team, officers with a week's training on dealing with the mentally ill who are experiencing a crisis, threatening themselves or others.

Not sure why I should be upset about this.

Intervention in mental health issues by mental health pros, okay. Intervention by the 'Mental Sanitation Police'? Plus ungood.

The goal won’t be to arrest troubled people but to get them help before there’s violence, Bradshaw said. As a side benefit, law enforcement will have needed information to keep a close eye on things.
“We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he hates the government, hates the mayor and he’s gonna shoot him,” Bradshaw said. “What does it hurt to have somebody knock on a door and ask, ‘Hey, is everything OK?’ ”
That’s enough for Senate budget chief Joe Negron, R-Stuart, who helped push through the funding last weekend.
He said he met with Bradshaw about the program and “got assurances from the sheriff that this is going to be done in a way that respects people’s autonomy and privacy, and that he makes sure to protect against people making false claims.”

Yeah. What could possibly go wrong with this?

With most of the crazies recently, say the Tsarnaev's, what would a visit from the local constable have accomplished?

Sir, are you okay?
Yes, thanks. Goodbye. [closing door]

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Yeah. What could possibly go wrong with this?

I used to be one of those CIT officers, and sometimes you can make a difference and sometimes you can't. Not everyone is Tsarnaev. Some folks just think their apartment manager is pumping poison in through the electrical outlets or think the mailman is a CIA agent spying on them. Intervening early can, and does, prevent tragedies.

Its easy to only look at possible negative outcomes, but I will tell you from experience there are a lot of positive outcomes, too. I've literally pulled a woman back over the railing as she was about to jump and have her get help and overcome her depression. I've also had a woman who thought the devil was possessing everyone she came into contact with hang herself after I talked to her. You don't win them all, but that's no excuse for not trying.

 

[cobber]

I used to be one of those CIT officers, and sometimes you can make a difference and sometimes you can't. Not everyone is Tsarnaev. Some folks just think their apartment manager is pumping poison in through the electrical outlets or think the mailman is a CIA agent spying on them. Intervening early can, and does, prevent tragedies.

Its easy to only look at possible negative outcomes, but I will tell you from experience there are a lot of positive outcomes, too. I've literally pulled a woman back over the railing as she was about to jump and have her get help and overcome her depression. I've also had a woman who thought the devil was possessing everyone she came into contact with hang herself after I talked to her. You don't win them all, but that's no excuse for not trying.

This sounds like a "if it can save one person argument". We heard not just a few of these after Newtown. One could also craft arguments like this to warrant curtailing the 4th and 5th Amendments. To prevent bad things.

Are people entitled to freedom of thought and it's none of the gov's business?

In the late, great USSR, if a citizen had expressed disaffection with the regime and a desire, perhaps, to take up arms, he or she would have ended up in a psychiatric ward. Because obviously only a crazy person would find fault with the CPSU.

[Citizens! Give up your weapons!]

 

[Kirk Freeman]

How about we get the government involved when one is suspected of violated the rights of another citizen by harming them or their property and not this Third Worldy "brother comrade" stuff that makes me want to go brush my wookie suit?

 

[beararms1776]

Don't they have these units in place called PD to arrest murderers?

 

[yournamehere]

I actually called the phone number listed in the comments. I unloaded just like a good angry white man. I dont care. Told them I hope someone offs the fat sheriff.

 

[dt420]

I actually called the phone number listed in the comments. I unloaded just like a good angry white man. I dont care. Told them I hope someone offs the fat sheriff.

Wow, I dont agree with this, but i would never wish death on a person because of it. I think you are a bit more than just an angry white man.

 

[srad]

Wow, I dont agree with this, but i would never wish death on a person because of it. I think you are a bit more than just an angry white man.

Irony right before our eyes... maybe a good citizen needs to report 'yournamehere' to the CIT or PCU; sounds like he needs a knock on the door from the po-po just to make sure he's 'ok'.

 

[Rocket]

This program will help to add to the improper person list I am sure. I do not want to ever hear of a crazy person taking anyone's life but their own again. Not gonna happen I know. But I feel that this is a Huge leap deeper into socialism. Note I said deeper. So if my libtard neighbor overhears my dissatisfaction with the status quo, I would get a knock on the door.

Because you must be crazy to go against the flow. Holly crap Stallin has been reborn! This COULD lead to labeling all if us unstable and improper. Do you want to go there?

 

[cobber]

The Soviet Union used to have a neighborhood volunteer watch, as did China, to keep an eye out for, and report, counter-revolutionary actions including chatter. Cuba reportedly still does.

This, combined with Bloomberg's closed-circuit nation, persuades me we're heading for 1984-style totalitarianism. Of course if a RINO is in the White House, the media will see this as totally unacceptable.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

One could also craft arguments like this to warrant curtailing the 4th and 5th Amendments.

One could also craft an argument that speed limits allow our government to restrict our freedom of movement, as they could simply be set to 3 mph on every Interstate.

That doesn't mean its right. Not everything has a nefarious purpose behind it, not everything leads to abuse rights, etc. etc.

There's not a single law I couldn't make some argument against with a string of what-ifs, period.

 

[Sfrandolph]

I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

 

[cobber]

One could also craft an argument that speed limits allow our government to restrict our freedom of movement, as they could simply be set to 3 mph on every Interstate.

That doesn't mean its right. Not everything has a nefarious purpose behind it, not everything leads to abuse rights, etc. etc.

There's not a single law I couldn't make some argument against with a string of what-ifs, period.

A program that has as its basis "violence prevention" and allows the police to drop in on law-abiding citizens simply based on a third-party report (which will probably be less than RS or PC) is by definition nefarious and will inevitably lead to more intrusion into citizens' private matters. Being mentally ill is not a criminal matter. Are the police really equipped to assume this mantle?

And mind you, there will be NO confidentiality under such a program:

As a side benefit, law enforcement will have needed information to keep a close eye on things.

If you ever get reported for such a matter, even if the report is groundless, do you really think you won't get flagged for future attention? If Florida really needs this program, how about giving the responsibility to a state or local agency that already deals with mental health issues as its main function.

How many lists do we need in this country? NCIC, NICS, IDACS, no fly list, and now this?

I don't have to 'craft' an argument against this program. The program itself, in conjunction with our Constitution and Bill of Rights, is all the argument I need.

 

[mrjarrell]

The police have zero need to involve themselves in anything like this. There's a tragic history of police involvement and the mentally ill. All too many times we've seen this end in death for the people they are supposedly "helping". There are other agencies that are far better equipped, as Cobber points out, to deal with those folks suffering from mental illness.
No-one needs anyone checking up on anyone else, just because someone's distrustful of their government, either. Lots of room for more tragedy there, too. Let the police deal with crimes against people and property and leave other things to people more qualified to deal with it.

 

[eldirector]

So, get the address for every public official, their friends, family, and donors, and start calling in tips. They are obviously disturbed and possibly even dangerous since they support this type of government involvement.

 

[yournamehere]

Wow, I dont agree with this, but i would never wish death on a person because of it. I think you are a bit more than just an angry white man.

What I am is sick of the leftists in this country continuing to erode the rights of citizens in the name of safety. And sick of the poopoo crowd who say they dont like it but go belly up like you.