A few months ago, the Boston police department announced it would form a squad of uniformed police that would roam about certain “high risk” neighborhoods on the hunt for guns. The plan would be that these police squads would arrive at the doors of home owners, knock a few times, and “politely” ask residents if they would consent to a warrantless search of the premises — as if asking nicely was all the state needs to do to make it OK to abrogate the Constitution!

Well, apparently the community has discovered what a violation of trust and Constitutional rights this sort of jackbooted action would be. According to the Boston Globe, residents have “surprised” the police by intense opposition to the plan. The Boston Globe reports the shock and aw shucks of the police.

Boston police officials, surprised by intense opposition from residents, have significantly scaled back and delayed the start of a program that would allow officers to go into people’s homes and search for guns without a warrant.

The program, dubbed Safe Homes, was supposed to start in December, but has been delayed at least three times because of misgivings in the community. March 1 was the latest missed start date.

Apparently, citizens are a bit alarmed that the police imagine that they can just roam about preemptively “stopping” crimes that have yet to be committed. One community group has been circulating a petition to stop the program cold.

And here is the claim that the police have for their little program…

Police would ask parents or legal guardians for permission to search homes where juveniles ages 17 and under are believed to be holding illegal guns. Police would only enter homes into which they have been invited and, once inside, would only search the rooms of the juveniles.

This is an outright falsehood. Police legally CANNOT be limited to a single goal like they would be with a warrant. If the police enter a home, whether bidden or unbidden, they are obligated to act on anything that raises their suspicions. In effect, even if the homeowner imagined that they were only going to have police enter under a single premise, any violations the police see upon entering is fair game for police actions. In other words, by inviting police into the home, the homeowner is opening himself up to trouble even if he imagines the police are only there for one reason!

Community members are beginning to realize this fact, too.

Sarah Wunsch, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union who has attended meetings about the plan, said those warnings are unnerving.

“People on the street may say: ‘This is great. I’m letting them in,’ ” she said. “But those are the people I’m concerned about, because they haven’t been educated about the hazards.”

What we have here is an violation of the Constitution, plain and simple. The police may have what some might consider good intentions. But, destroying the Constitution even for good intentions is no way to go about improving the community.

I hope that the communities in Boston continue to oppose these illegal police policies. So far, they are doing a good job doing so.

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