
![]() I read with interest in the news that a suburban #Cleveland man was charged with telling drivers to turn to avoid a police drunk-driving checkpoint. The man says that the #police violated his #First Amendment rights to #free speech. It reminded me of a similar incident when I lived in Illinois. I lived in #Naperville in Chicagoland. The police department there had more patrol cars than it had policepersons to drive them. The Chief of Police came up with the idea to park these extra patrol cars around town with the idea that people will slow down when they see a police car. He even installed a device that would turn on the radar for a few minutes at random. A local radio station thought that was a bit too much. They asked listeners to telephone the station with the location of these empty patrol cars and they would announce it over the air. The public got behind this idea and even went so far as to buy donuts and coffee and place them on top of the patrol cars. Whenever drivers saw a patrol car with donuts and coffee on top they knew it was bogus. I thought it was hilarious. Finally, the chief removed the cars that had now become a laughing stock. It was a victory for free speech.
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6/19/2014 03:39:42 pm
The radio station performed a public service. They should have convinced the police department to leave the keys in the cars. Smart car thieves, knowing the department was so short on police they had little chance of being caught would listen for a location, drink the coffee, eat the donut and steal the car, have it repainted, sold and use the money for a better life. The radio station would have a huge gain in audience from having so many car thieves in the surrounding area become listeners to the station instead of police short wave, should be able to raise advertising rate for spots around location announcements The police department would report a sudden increase in car thefts, ask for an increase in budget to hire more cops to deal with the crime wave. The new hires would need new cars, cost of which added to budget request. Coffee shops, donut shops, car thieves, auto repaint shops, used car dealers, new car dealers selling expensive new cars to the police department would all benefit. The present Administration would boast they had given a block grant to the city to hire more policemen, fulfilling another campaign promise. A WIN-WIN for all concerned! (Only The First Amendment would take a beating - but that happens all the time, so what's new?)
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