From: Jim Choate <ravage@einstein.ssz.com>
Date: Fri, 23 May 1997 10:56:36 +0800
To: cypherpunks@einstein.ssz.com (Cypherpunks Distributed Remailer)
Subject: Police & military access
Message-ID: <199705230204.VAA18264@einstein.ssz.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text


Hi,

It occured to me that if the police have no civil liberties extending beyond
that of a citizen and citizens are not legaly permitted access to military
hardware then neither should the police.

If this applied then it would not be legal for police to have access to any
sort of communication or encryption technology that was not available to the
normal citizen.

If a police officer can buy body armor and automatic weapons for self
defence then so can a citizen.

If a police officer can search a suspect for weapons "to protect their person"
and confiscate or otherwise remove them from the immediate vicinity then a
normal citizen should require a police officer to do the same. In other
words, once it is established that the suspect is not armed the police
officer should be required to place their weapon in their vehicle or
othewise secure it off their person.

etc.

etc.

So, the question of the hour is:

Do police have any civil rights not endowed to a individual citizen?



                                                    Jim Choate
                                                    CyberTects
                                                    ravage@ssz.com