imported post
Mayor James Valley made this statement;
"This curfew is for all people...everyone is subject to be stopped - almost like marshal law.”.... "It's zero tolerance, you're going to jail."
“The citizens deserve peace, that some infringement on constitutional rights is OK and we have not violated anything as far as the Constitution.”
How delusional is that? For once, I'm hoping the ACLU throws their weight onMayor Valley. His actions aren't just heavy-handed or ill-advised, they're downright criminal.
If there had been open rioting in that area, I could see there being a temporary curfew imposedthat would immediately end when rioting stopped & order returned. But imposing a 24hr curfew, detaining, and arresting citizens for simply walking out their front door is a blatant violation of the 4th and 14th Amendments. So what the neighborhood is rife with drugs, prostitution, and violence? That the police can't reduce area's crime-rate without martial-law;residents won't clean up their own neighborhood, and they have a mayorwilling to throw awaythecitizens of Helena's Constitutional rightsin response to a localized crime wavespeaks volumes. And besides, as soon as martial-law is ended, the criminals will come back out of the woodwork and resume their activity; or move their activities to an area of the city which isn't so hot.
“There are going to be instances where innocent people are inconvenienced for the safety of the entire community,” he said. “I do not have any information that innocent citizen’s rights are being violated. The police department is diligently working on their report to present to the council and a request for authority to use Saturation Zones for enhanced efforts.”
Not only is this guy delusional, but he wants to expand the curfew-zone. "I want them to fix the problem, fix it legally and I want them to be aggressive,” said Valley. It's only a matter of time before an innocent citizen is seriously injured or killed by police officers given carte blanche to do what they will.