Catching the potential lawbreaker

An unpopular truth

[Reprinted from Issues & Views February 10, 2003]

In a Washington Times commentary, "Crimes before the fact" (1/9/03), Congressman Bob Barr, a privacy advocate, gives us some chilling news:

In last year's mega-hit movie "Minority Report," starring Tom Cruise in a mid-21st-century sci-fi thriller, D.C. police identify persons who have not yet committed a crime, but who, based on premonition evidence are going to commit a crime, and then swoop in and arrest these pre-criminals before they can carry out their dastardly deeds. Well, it isn't even 2054 (the year in which the movie is set), and already, Washington-area police -- in this case, Fairfax County, Va.'s finest -- are taking the movie to heart, and putting it into practice now.

The gendarmes are going into local area bars undercover, waiting for patrons to imbibe what might possibly be too much inside the bar, forcing them outside for a mandatory blood-alcohol content test and, if they fail, citing them. In some instances, eschewing the boredom of operating undercover, they are charging in with full, SWAT regalia, and pulling patrons outside the bar. All this with no evidence whatsoever the poor souls enjoying a drink at the local pub were going to get behind the wheel of a vehicle and drive under the influence.

This actually is a frightening scenario that one hopes is nipped in the bud. Not only is this sort of Gestapolike behavior chilling in the extreme, but if condoned or encouraged, will find its way into other areas of detaining or arresting people for potential criminal behavior.

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