State ferries: Search precedent found in Germany

Published 6:00 am Wednesday, June 19, 2002

Mr. Larsen notes, in his lead story of June 12, that there is some concern on the part of a few citizens regarding the arbitrary searching of private autos at ferry landings. What a bunch of namby pamby whiners we’re becoming. It’s about time Washington made good use of its State Police.

When I was a kid there was another state police force that was most effective in weeding out potential trouble makers. As I recall they were called the Geheime Staatzpolizei (something of a mouthful for Anglos) or Gestapo for short. They had searching for contraband down to a science. In fact, they discovered that shaking down citizens was best done in the middle of the night when their victims (I mean citizens) would be less inclined to raise a fuss. Our State Police could take a lesson from that.

The Gestapo didn’t have to deal with any nonsense in their national constitution stating that, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. That sentence is long winded, antiquated and rather too restrictive for our modern society . It should have been done away with years ago.

The State would probably scoop up all manner of unacceptable paraphernalia and people if they arbitrarily decided to toss homes in a random manner. Most of us would get used to it in short order. Confronting cops is an unrewarding experience at the best of times. And those misfits who complained could easily be installed in a safe environment. For instance a concentration camp has been found effective for such purposes.

A.G.Elliott

Oak Harbor