Bill that allows warrantless arrests goes to committee this Tuesday, Feb 8 2:00
Dear Fellow Patriots!
This is your call to action to protect our Constitutional Rights! Rep. Stephen Handy has introduced legislation (HB0059) which permits warrantless arrests for all “suspected” infractions of the law. That’s a direct threat to our 4th Amendment Rights.
Where: 20 House Building, Utah State Capitol Complex
Time: 2:00 PM
Date: Tomorrow, Tuesday, February 8, 2011
The House Building is the “west” building at the Capitol Complex and it’s in the basement. Please arrive early!
Interestingly enough, Rep. Ken Sumsion’s bill allowing local control of justice courts will be debated and we should support him as well.
Why HB 59 Matters
What was it about the old movies that had the Gestapo or KGB that made it so scary? What was it about the Nazis and Communists that made is so terrible that we should go to war with them?
It was the knock on the door in the middle of the night; someone tells you, “You must come with us.” Or it was the two, large men with big knuckles walking up to you in the street and telling you your papers were not in order.
A police state is when citizens have no protection against arrest by police. In the free countries of the world before the state can lay their hands on you they almost always need the check of some sort of judicial order to do so. This protects you and me from police officers and anyone else with an ax to grind or a score to settle.
Over centuries the English Common Law evolved a system that protected our communities from criminals but also protected the citizens from oppressive government interference and allowed law-abiding citizens to go about their lives without the constant fear of police apprehension.
So the law in the United States has been, since 1786, that the police may arrest us if we are foolish enough to commit a crime where they can see or hear (or smell) us doing it. And they could also arrest someone for serious threats to the citizens or communities, like murder, rape, assault on the reasonable report of another member of the community. What they aren’t allowed to do is to arrest people for minor infractions of law merely on the report or accusation of someone else.
This terminology was already ancient in the day where Law Enforcement meant Sheriff. Not Sheriff as in Wyatt Earp or Pat Garrett; Sheriff as in Sheriff of Nottingham. This has been the standard for hundreds of years. It is an INTEGRAL PART OF THE 4th AMENDMENT.
What HB 59 Does
House Bill 59 calls our Constitutional Right to be secure in our persons and free from unreasonable searches and seizures merely an annoying, inconvenient technicality. By removing the protection we have enjoyed as Americans for 235 years and before that as Englishmen for centuries HB 59 brings us closer to 1984 East Germany than any time in our history since prohibition.
Constitutional lawyers will tell you HB 59 specifically authorizes unreasonable seizures.
The change proposed by Rep Handy’s bill will allow an officer to arrest ANYONE (that means you or me) at any time on any charge (which could include: jaywalking, parking your car in the wrong place, failing to shovel your sidewalk within 24 hours of a snow storm, catching the wrong type of fish from the lake, or even violating a local sign ordinance with a political sign). Placing such discretionary power into the hands of a police officer absent a warrant or imminent threat is simply chilling to the rights of all citizens.
It’s Time to Act
We’ve gone to all the Tea Party and 9/12 meetings. We’ve played keyboard jockey for months and years. Right now, right here is the chance for us to literally fight for our freedoms! It is time for us to stand up and defeat a threat to our liberty!
The following legislators are on the Judiciary Committee. If you can’t make it tomorrow please contact them to tell them how you feel about this bill. Please focus your contact on all of the legislators. Not all legislators are able to make it to every committee meeting so we aren’t sure who’ll be there.
Have stated they oppose HB 59:
- Rep. Kay L. McIff, Chair 801-608-4331
- Rep. Francis D. Gibson, Vice Chair 801-491-3763
- Rep. Jackie Biskupski 801-484-8369
- Rep. Derek E. Brown 801-410-2604
- Rep. LaVar Christensen 801-550-1040
- Rep. Ken Ivory 801-694-8380
- Rep. Brian S. King 801-560-0769
- Rep. Paul Ray 801-725-2719
Have not yet committed to vote against the bill:
- Rep. Fred C. Cox 801-966-2636
- Rep. Christopher N. Herrod 801-375-9624
- Rep. Eric K. Hutchings 801-963-2639
- Rep. Mark A. Wheatley 801-264-8844
- Rep. Brad R. Wilson 801-425-1028
It’s too late to email, you must CALL now!
