Boston Police want to search your house!

[XD45]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3881593

Boston police will ask parents in high-crime areas to let detectives search their children's bedrooms for guns without warrants in a new anti-crime program.

Police believe parents are so worried their teenagers will be caught up in gun violence that they'll be willing to allow police into their homes. If the parents say no, the police will leave.

"They don't know what to do when faced with the problem of dealing with a teenage boy in possession of a firearm," police Commissioner Edward Davis said of parents. We're giving them an option in that case."

Davis announced the program Friday in a meeting with community leaders.

During the next two weeks, teams of three plainclothes officers assigned to schools will go to homes where they believe teens have guns and ask their parents or legal guardians for permission to search.

The program, called Safe Homes, has raised questions about civil liberties.

Thomas Nolan, a former Boston police lieutenant who teaches criminology at Boston University, called it "an end run around the Constitution."

"The police have restrictions on their authority and ability to conduct searches," he said. "The Constitution was written with a very specific intent, and that was to keep the law out of private homes unless there is a written document signed by a judge and based on probable cause. Here, you don't have that."

Some critics said people may be too intimidated to say no to police.

"People might not understand the implications of weapons being tested or any contraband being found," said Amy Reichbach, a racial justice advocate at the American Civil Liberties Union.

The program is modeled after one that began in 1994 in St. Louis and ended in 1999, partly because funding ran out. Boston police said that in the first year of the St. Louis program, police were allowed into 98 percent of homes contacted and that guns were seized in half of them.

Davis said officers won't conduct such searches in the homes of teenagers suspected in shootings or homicides whom investigators are trying to prosecute. If officers find drugs during a warrantless search, it will be up to them whether to make an arrest. Modest amounts of drugs like marijuana will simply be confiscated, officials said.

The Rev. Jeffrey Brown, co-founder of the anti-crime Boston TenPoint Coalition, backed the initiative.

"What I like about this program is it really is a tool to empower the parent," he said. "It's a way in which they can get a hold of the household and say, 'I don't want that in my house.'"

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[Coop650]

I just read about this on a motorcycle forum I frequent. I would be teaching everyone I know to say "I do not consent to any searches" to protect our 4th amendment rights. No warrant, no search. That simple. I understand city kids can be violent even to parents but by allowing this we might as well start wiping our asses with the constitution.

[XD45]

it is a different lifestyle in those communities, and i'm sure more than one parent is afraid their kid has illegal guns, and i'm sure alot of the kids do.. but i'm not sure this is the way to go about it, how about being a F*CKING parent and search it yourself?

[Jelanen]

As a former resident of the Democratic People's Republic of Massachusetts(hugs PA), this is pretty much par for the course. Its sad that the home of Concord and Lexington and so much of our Revolutionary war history has fallen to this...

[pghplr]

"What I like about this program is it really is a tool to empower the parent," he said. "It's a way in which they can get a hold of the household and say, 'I don't want that in my house.'"
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

I read this yesterday. I love the last paragraph. If you want to cut through all the BS about whats wrong with kids these days, that pretty much sums it up.
Do we really need this kind of personal invasion to be empowered parents? Listen, if you need the police to empower you over your kids in your own home, you need to turn your "I wanna be a mommy/daddy license" in at the nearest CYS office. NOW!

[Emptymag]

pghplr,
+1 to that!

I've said it before, I'll say it again. This country is screwed.
WTF good is a constitution if the people who it is intended to protect are TOO FUCKING STUPID to care about it, let alone, understand what it IS.



Also, wouldn't this be the dreaded "profiling" that so many folks seem to find SO offensive?

During the next two weeks, teams of three plainclothes officers assigned to schools will go to homes where they believe teens have guns and ask their parents or legal guardians for permission to search.

[nijwnfi]

It's not a problem with some of these parents. That is, until the police find something of theirs that is illegal.

[MarcS]

Who the fuck would let them do that?

"Sorry ma'am, we found a couple ounces of weed and a large amount of cash in your son's room so we're going to sieze your house. Thanks for the invite, sucker!"

[ChamberedRound]

People are CRAZY if are willing to give up an essential right to privacy because they need help parenting. Have some self-respect, get some courage, and do your job as a parent. No one ever said it was going to be an easy job, and sure as hell isn't an excuse to let the cops do it for you, trampling liberty in the process.

[Nate]

thats is such sad news