Ragin' Against Police... AGAIN!

The Ragin' Man was reading through the news today and came across an article entitled "NY Case Underscores Wi-Fi Privacy Dangers" on Yahoo! News.

The story is about SEVERAL people who have wireless routers, something the Ragin' Man has, and do not have passwords, or had their routers hacked, so pedophiles could download child porn onto their own computer through someone else's internet. The first story is probably the most chilling and really describes a phenomena I have seen in police work.

"Lying on his family room floor with assault weapons trained on him, shouts of 'pedophile!' and 'pornographer!' stinging like his fresh cuts and bruises, the Buffalo homeowner didn't need long to figure out the reason for the early morning wake-up call from a swarm of federal agents."

This is a common thing. Ever watch Dateline NBC's "To Catch A Predator"? Ever seen someone get arrested with a lot of people watching? Ever been arrested when almost no one is around? The Ragin' Man has done all these things. Surprisingly when no one is around they'll just have you get on your knees or even stand there while they slap on the cuffs. If too many people are around you can count on a knee to the back while you lay face down.

The Police were no doubt trying to "get tough" on someone they saw as a huge pedophile. The federal agents had made a bust of someone that perpetuates a horrendous industry. Here's my problem: they no doubt knew when the SUSPECT was going to be home, and they probably knew what he did for a living and if he had any priors. They also understand the Constitution has a thing about "innocent until proven guilty" so why in the hell did they go into his house like that? Why not knock on his door, if he doesn't come to the door within a couple minutes THEN knock down the door. When he comes to the door read him his rights and lock him up. I understand they would be worried he would destroy evidence, but a simple delete does not take everything off of a hard drive, and they already knew that router was downloading porn. They also knew he was a non-violent offender, and I doubt they thought he was producing his own child porn or molesting a child at that exact moment. "Serve and Protect" right?

I also understand that they want a fast confession and a show of force has a psychological affect on someone, but they already had a warrant for what amounted to every electronic device in the guy's home since they took laptops and iPads. The evidence would have been there.

In the end it was his neighbor who was stealing his internet that was downloading the child porn.

Let me be clear, if the guy was being arrested in connection with something that would indicate he might react violently, or if he had a history of violence I am for going in strong and safe like was done. This is just another case of cops trying to be on Law & Order or CSI:Miami in a case that was more like Andy Griffith.

On another level this poses a huge risk to anyone who has unprotected internet, and I know there are many as I can almost always find a signal somewhere.

Just something to rage about on your Easter evening.