PERSONAL FREEDOMS AT RISK FROM BIG BROTHER

Editor:

Re: Front-page article, May 31 ('Shadow squad'):

Police states like Stalinist Russia used these methods on
dissidents.

Do we really want government agents pounding on doors at all hours and
breaking down doors with sledgehammers and battering rams?

Ignorant citizens start informing on anyone who doesn't meet their
particular social, political, religious or moral/ethical precepts.

Add to this the indoctrination of students to the police state,
monitoring homeless people and watching everyone on the downtown
streets for any indication they may be a criminal, child molester or
the worst crime in perverted capitalistic society - begging for money.

The recent list of prolific offenders is just a statement on how our
society treats those less fortunate, whether they be poor or addicted.

It does not take Sherlock Holmes or Dudley DoRight to find an addict
and find someone who has to do crimes to purchase a substance that has
been deemed not worthy of society.

Drug crime is one of the only non-violent crimes that can result in a
black-clad paramilitary smashing down your door with guns drawn,
screaming insults and smashing up the housing and contents, all while
children may be in the house.

This is Big Brother in the worst sense.

So we, the local idiots, want more of this false paradigm of security
versus freedom.

John Anderson

Kamloops