A cop’s decision to sport a body camera and search a Massachusetts middle school for a book has raised serious concerns among civil liberties experts, a new report shows.
The Berkshire Eagle reported Wednesday on mounting fears after the Great Barrington plainclothes police officer who entered an eighth grade classroom at W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School.
“Police going into schools and searching for books is the sort of thing you hear about in communist China and Russia," Ruth A. Bourquin, senior and managing attorney for the ACLU of Massachusetts, told the local news outlet. "What are we doing?”
For their part, police say they were obligated to investigate a complaint about the book “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe, a memoir about gender identity that contains sexually explicit illustrations and language, the report notes.
But Great Barrington Police Chief Paul Storti said in a statement, “Because this complaint was made directly to the police department, we are obligated and have a duty to examine the complaint further."
I call bullshit, and would like to see the law and/or court rulings that support this assertion.
Because if cops have no duty to protect the public, then in what sense do they have a duty to take this complaint seriously?
Anyone who has had their bike stolen or car broken into or otherwise be victim of a crime the police don’t really care about knows this is not the case. You’ll be told to come in and fill out a form, or if you’re lucky you might have someone call you and fill out the form for you. They’re not going to send a cop out for that, and the form doesn’t really get acted on, it’s just for records keeping.
Yeah I don’t want my police spinning their wheels hunting for a used bike. The police time and resources could pay for a new bike.
Unfortunately, that’s not the tradeoff the police department offers. And we do need to distinguish between relative and absolute values. Relative to myself, having a multi-thousand dollar bike loss isn’t all that big of a deal, and I have insurance anyway. For others who depend on their bikes as their primary mode of transportation and who don’t have the ability to just walk into a bike store and slap down a credit card without thinking twice, it’s a much bigger deal. For those people, their lives are impacted as much as a car theft would on someone else.
I do get that we have limited resources and they need to be used for more serious violations, but by that same token book banning isn’t one, and would not have required an officer to physically investigate. This is about purely fascistic thought control and book banning. Honestly, I would have preferred that cop go track down a stolen bike ring.
I agree with all of this. Especially the part about insuring against risks you cannot afford. How much was your policy? I imagine it’s less than $100 per year.
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I have to confess that I don’t remember. I carry riders on my other policy for high value items like my camera gear and bike. It all goes into a lump sum that just gets auto paid annually.
But you’re right - they’re fairly inexpensive to insure.
I carry riders on my…bike.
A rider’s rider rider.
Because this complaint hurt little piggy’s feelings.
Yeah I don’t believe it either. The courts have agreed the cops don’t have to help anyone.
Yeah, but that’s because they don’t want to help people. They actively recruit cops who hate the communities they’re going to police.
So it’s never an issue when they’re asked to do harm. That’s why they became cops.
in communist China and Russiaor in the history of many US States…
Republicans talk about China so much because they envy their Authoritarian power over the people…
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also, russia is not communist, lol
The US has been a “post truth” nation a lot longer than many people realize. Easily disproven falsehoods like this have been a part of its culture for decades. I think it’s gaining so much attention now because it’s just getting beyond ridiculous.
Almost as if two entire generations of propaganda during the Cold War was enough to sway the collective consciousness. It doesn’t matter if the WW2 vets or GenZ/Alpha believe it, because they’re not the ones in charge right now. There were two (three, if you count the early millennials) entire generations of people who were raised in and around anti-communist propaganda.
That’s not something the populace will be able to shake off in a few years. That’s the kind of shit that takes literal generations to settle down, because GenX/millennials will need to be the crazy dementia-ridden great grandparents ranting about communists in the soap dispenser before GenZ/Alpha will be able to look at them with pity and go “yeah, okay grandpa. Go back to your Seinfeld reruns and we’ll take care of that for you.”
No one is saying Russia is communist today but they were communist.
I think that’s a reference to when it was, not someone saying they are at the moment.
Neither is China, despite them repeatedly saying they are.
But I think the comment is referring to the past when they were, as opposed to now.
Over/Under on how many punisher tats this piggy has?
For their part, police say they were obligated to investigate a complaint
Police have wide discretion about how much effort to put into any particular investigation. This is how it should have been handled:
“Hello Mr. Principal. This is the police. We have a complaint about a book called Gender Queer, which allegedly contains obscenity. Do you have that book in your library? You do? Okay, in your expert opinion, as a teacher and principal, do you believe that this book is obscene? No? Okay then, have a nice day.”
Notes made in the database. Investigation fllagged as complete. Complaint unfounded. The school takes responsibility for the content. The parent who complained can take it up with the school board.
Instead the police took it upon themselves to get into the business of determining whether a school library book is obscene. What a stupid quagmire to wander into. Clearly, someone in the police department lacks good judgment.
police say they were obligated to investigate a complaint
Are police obligated to do anything? Like… literally anything?
It’s my understanding that it’s up to the department how police conduct themselves. If the department doesn’t do anything about their behavior and the community keeps funding it, then why would cops change?
“A book is a loaded gun." - Fahrenheit 451
“If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none." - Fahrenheit 451
This was supposed to dystopian fiction not a fucking playbook.
I need to reread this but it will likely just depress me.
W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School.
What do we want to bet a school with a name like that has a significant majority of black students? And what do we want to bet that’s why the cop went there?
I live in the area and while I dont have the exact numbers, Great Barrington and the surrounding towns are very predominantly white. The school is named because WEB Du Bois was born in Great Barrington
Sounds French to me.
W. E. B. Du Bois was one of the most prominent writers about the African-American experience and civil rights until his death in the early 1960s. So not French.
I have like 3 coworkers who are black and primarily speak French. Isn’t Louisiana all about black French people? There’s some kind of French stuff going on there, I can taste it!
Last I checked, the people of Louisiana are generally American, not French. Including the black people.
Does that mean the French food is also American or can we describe things with words still?
I have no idea what you’re talking about. Du Bois wasn’t French because he wasn’t a citizen of France. That is what makes someone French.
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W.E.B. Du Bois is a famous black sociologist
A cop’s decision to sport a body camera and search…
Why was it his decision to make?
Well as a new Englander this is barely concerning.
Something tells me that officer should move if he values his personal property. Massholes earned their name.
