Support Your Local Police

Jesse Walker | October 1, 2004

It warms my heart when I hear a tale of a police force that's got its priorities straight.

Comments

|10.1.04 @ 2:03PM|#

It makes a lot of sense to have uniformed police there to help serve a civil order against a radio broadcaster because, unlicensed and otherwise, they're typically armed to the teeth.

The adolescent in me chuckled when I read, "An officer did respond when nine tires on five of the agents' cars were slashed..."

Paul Woodford|10.1.04 @ 3:27PM|#

How refreshing to follow a link to " . . . a tale of a police force that's got its priorities straight" that leads to an irony-free story about a police department that actually represents the concerns of its community!

Here I was expecting another tale of a local police department investing months of preparation and thousands of hours of labor to bust a housewife who sells marital aids door to door.

|10.1.04 @ 6:02PM|#

Awesome story.

|10.1.04 @ 8:36PM|#

Is it? I read it as a story about a busy police force that didn't need to add anyone to a group of federal agents who were going to confiscate a mixer. Is that a story?

I mean it's great that the chief didn't go take a nightstick to the DJ himself, but it's not like he chained himself to the door.

SteveinClearwater|10.1.04 @ 9:41PM|#

This PD has also openly stated that they will not participate in federal raids of legal (under California law) medical marijuana growers and/or dispensaries.

Eff the Feds

James Anderson Merritt|10.2.04 @ 10:45AM|#

There is no way, short of an act of God, for the tiny signal of Free Radio Santa Cruz to participate in "interstate commerce." There are also numerous blank spots in the band in the San Jose/Monterey Bay area. When the FCC licensed another broadcaster in FRSC's spot on the dial, they found another. The FRSC people specifically asked the FCC whether interference was at issue; they were told no, only unlicensed operation.

So, there is neither spectrum scarcity, nor interstate commerce, nor harmful interference involved here. The only thing the FCC is protecting is its own authority and death-grip on the allocation of spectrum space.

Sending armed officers to confiscate thousands of dollars of equipment that was fairly purchased is an affront to the spirit of the Constitution. But then, the mere existence and most of the charter of the FCC are affronts to the letter of the Constitution.

As Mojo Nixon sings, "FCC crawl in your grave..."