Hater Depot
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
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 Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 10:48 am Post subject: The lessons of 7/21 |
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/darius-rejali/the-lesson-of-july-21_b_25492.html
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On their own, police are relatively helpless against criminals and terrorists. Since the 1970s, researchers have shown again and again that unless the public specifically identifies suspects to the police, the chances that a crime will be solved falls to about 10 percent. Contrary to popular evening police television shows, only a small percentage of crimes are solved with fingerprinting, forensics and DNA sampling. In England, this constitutes as little as 5% of all detections.
Police captured the 21 July bombers using accurate public information. Tanya Wright, Ibrahim's neighbor, helped the police locate Ibrahim and a second suspect, Yasin Hassan Omar, on July 22. Police then traced Omar to Birmingham where he was arrested six days later. Police arrested a third bomb suspect, Ramsi Muhammad, in the same flat as Omar. Three commuters had followed Muhammad through London until they lost him. Police identified Hussein Osman, the fourth bomber, by releasing video surveillance. They tapped his brother in law's phone and Italian authorities arrested him.
Police captured their suspects without torture or an American-style Patriot Act. The Parliament passed no new laws and gave the police no new special powers. They did not have to arrest thousands, set up a network of secret prisons worldwide, or send prisoners to countries that torture for interrogation. In the full sweep, police arrested only 44 people, including the four alleged bombers and 13 others who they suspect harbored them. They released most others in 24 hours or less. Their only misstep came when police identified a suspect acting on their own suspicions and, tragically, ended up killing an illegal Brazilian immigrant with no connection to the bombings.
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Democracies cannot completely stop terrorism. Weapons are cheap and our societies are too trusting. But if absolute victory will always be beyond our reach, justice is not. Democracies can capture the terrorists and disrupt their plots if they apply the lessons of July 21. Those that cultivate public cooperation with professional policing will succeed. Those who want to watch movies on torture inherit the wind. |
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