Saline County Uses U.S. Patriot Act to Bust Meth Users

[donsu]

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/1205/289503.html

Since September 11, 2001, the federal government has opened up lines of communication between police agencies around the country. It's known as U.S. Patriot Act and it has created a great deal of controversy over the past few weeks.

Some say it's an infringement of rights, but one Saline County official says it makes his job a lot easier. Last week, the Patriot Act was extended until the end of January, when the U.S. Senate will vote to either extend it or make it permanent. Saline County Sheriff Phil Mask has been one of the state's more vocal proponents of the act.

(Mask) "The Patriot Act needs to be extended and needs to be a permanent thing for law enforcement..."

The Patriot Act was passed shortly after 9-11 and most Americans think that it only deals with foreign terrorists, but some of the provisions within the act are used to help local officials with the war on drugs.

(Mask) "The one thing we gotta look at is methamphetamine...how it destroys families, how it destroys this community and other communities around..."

The Patriot Act opened up communication lines between local law enforcement and federal agencies. According to Mask, the result is more arrests. He says if the act does not pass, it will set law enforcement back ten years.
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sigh

[Avalux]

1. So we're being protected from meth users?

Excuse me, but I thought the Patriot Act was all about protecting the homeland from terrorists wanting to destroy this country. I did not think it was supposed to be used for domestic law enforcement, like busting drug users.:eyes:

[HereSince1628]

2. Yeah, the important thing in a police state is to facilitate the police

If we get rid of all those pesky civil rights protections, the cops will be so good they'll not only be be able to arrest people BEFORE they commit.

We'd all be so much safer.

[genieroze]

3. set law enforcement back ten years.?

How long has the un patriot act been used? It hasn't been 10 years already, has it? What a moran. One thing the un patriot act has done is set the Constitution back over 200 years. According to * it's just a piece of paper and doesn't mean anything, right? I have no problem with busting drug dealers but when are they going to do something about the heroin coming out of Afghanistan. I wonder who is profiting from that???? :sarcasm:

[madrchsod]

4. interesting

in this area we have a regional drug force consisting of various county,state,and federal agencies. they have been effective in arresting and convicting various drug manufacturing enterprises and this task force has been in effect well before the pat.act. so it seems this is another bullshit attempt to pump up home security act