Well so much for the Bill of Rights. I quote Jay Leno: "As you may have heard, the U.S. is putting together a constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? Think about it -- it was written by very smart people, it's served us well for over two hundred years, and besides, we're not using it anymore." This is a wonderful opportunity for American enterprize to come to fore -- invent a device to sell to every home that will automatically open the door in 20 seconds if cops are knocking and you happen to be in the shower or out playing with the dog in the back yard. How to know it is a cop? Well another thing to sell would be an id card for cops with scan code -- just like the card key used for many motels now. Might as well make some money off the fast growing police state! Leon >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Marlinga addresses '20 second rule' in memo to officers By Chad Halcom, Macomb Daily Staff WriterDecember 05, 2003 Macomb County's top law enforcement official is telling police officers not to get too literal with the so-called "20 second rule" they may have heard from pundits and the media about cops entering homes for search and seizure. After all, the courts didn't draw a hard line and each case is unique. This week, Macomb County Prosecutor Carl Marlinga said, he has been sending out a memorandum to every local police agency interpreting the Tuesday ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court about the practices for entering homes on a search or arrest warrant. "I was just concerned about this and felt I should do something," Macomb County prosecutor Carl Marlinga said. "Just in case police began purchasing stop watches to begin timing every entrance and search of a home during their investigation." Marlinga said he is concerned that police executing drug raids or searching homes for evidence will believe erroneously that they must wait a minimum of 20 seconds between announcing their presence and breaking down a door. At least three different national news agencies and wire services, however, reported accurately that the high court did not set any such arbitrary rule. In fact, the court did acknowledge that the circumstances of each search are unique, and the only real rule of thumb is that there must be some interval of time between knocking or announcing police presence and a forced entry. "The old rule of law is, a man's home is his castle and shouldn't I at least have a chance to answer the door?" said Stephen Rabaut, a Macomb County defense attorney of many years. "I'm a little disappointed in this ruling, because if police always apply it to go by a 20-second rule, that's a little quick to the switch in some cases." . . . [continued at <http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10618653&BRD=988&PAG=461&dept_id= 141265&rfi=6>] <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ****************************************************** FEAR also offers an unmoderated discussion list and digests for all lists List unsubscribe: mailto:fear-list-request@mapinc.org?Body=unsubscribe Swap to digest: mailto:owner-fear-list@mapinc.org?subject=digest ******************************************************