I had the following thought today in light of the killing of the pet squirrel in New York, and the insane home invasion that led to it.
Hearing this story I was minded of the hospital scene in The Godfather:
in which, though the corrupt police had earlier come to the hospital and arrested the Corleone men guarding the wounded patriarch, Vito (Brando), so that the job of assassinating him might be easily completed, Michael arrives by chance after that in time to create a security bluff with the visiting florist, and then, after the cop boss breaks Michael’s jaw for doing so, the Corleone cavalry arrives, including Michael’s adopted brother & lawyer, Tom Hagen (Duvall), along with a large enough group of private security to create a stalemate with the cops, and end the immediate threat to the Don’s life. It’s a great scene in one of the greatest ever movies, but it also gave me an idea about a another potential version of this protection against the ‘protectors’ scenario.
My thought relates again to the Constitutional office of elected Sheriff, and that being the highest law enforcement authority in any jurisdiction (please correct me if I’m wrong), and so not subservient to any agents of the state, like those of this N.Y. animal agency that committed this obscene trespass, and relates also to the many volunteer fire dept’s all over the unincorporated and rural parts of the U.S.
The idea would be that anywhere an honorable and like-minded sheriff is in office, that he deputize any and all able bodied and like-minded men volunteering for the task (which the volunteer deputies would surely be in greatest part, men, that is), and particularly so on a geographical basis in order to evenly cover as much of a given jurisdiction as possible, one on every block, at least, and so that, just as a someone arrested calls a lawyer, someone that is having their home searched and seized by a state or federal agency would call a deputy (or some neighbor could call for them) to come stand between the searching agency, both to vet what they have come to do, and to thwart what they have come to do if necessary, whether by ending, delaying or tempering it, and always where the deprivation of property or life seems likely or is threatened before any due process has been observed.
This would create an additional role for the Sheriff’s office; that of safeguarding peoples’ natural rights at the point of arrest, and create some sort of buffer between the citizenry and police state entities.
Just brainstorming, but this scenario needs contemplation now, as what happened in N.Y. could be the canary in a coal mine, a harbinger of a new and ugly paradigm. No one’s coming to the rescue. Time to consider and implement some remedies post-haste now. We’re way past a piddling little tea tax.