THE USUAL SUSPECTS

"Welcome, Students, To Stalag 13..."

"I'll utilize whatever forces I deem necessary to keep this campus safe and
clean ... I'm sure it was an inconvenience to those individuals who were in
the hallway, but there is a valuable experience there."-Principal George
McCrackin of Stratford High School.

When I saw the videotape of armed police officers waving their loaded guns
at the heads of cowering high schoolers at Stratford High, my first thought
was "George McCrackin must be in heaven right now."

I know "Goose-Steppin' George" from my days as a talk host on WSC in
Charleston. He became part of the Michael Graham Experience by kicking
honor students out of school because they didn't have their shirts tucked in.

No, that's not a joke . not an intentional one, anyway. George McCrackin is
the kind of bureaucrat who believes that stupidity in the pursuit of order
is no vice. In his universe, an exposed shirttail is a flag of rebellion,
an ominous sign of impending anarchy, mob violence, and the reading of
unauthorized literature.

Rumor has it that at one point McCrackin wanted a school uniform policy at
Stratford, but he couldn't find enough brown shirts or red armbands.

How absolutely in his element he must have been on that fateful morning,
monitoring the 70 (!) surveillance cameras he uses to spy on his students,
as the Goose Creek police moved into to roust the unsuspecting teens.
According to media reports, McCrackin himself watched as the students
assumed what he called "their usual positions" before personally signaling
the officers to spring their trap.

McCrackin even patted down some of the suspects and questioned them about
the money in their pockets. If only Berkeley County had given him a riding
crop and let him throw a few kids to "The Hole," George McCrackin would be
the happiest man on earth.

Of course, he didn't act alone. In order to put the children of Berkeley
County in real danger, McCrackin needed the cooperation of poorly-led
police officers with a near-criminal lack of judgment: Enter the Goose
Creek P.D.

When you use enough excess force to make the North Charleston police
uncomfortable, that's saying something.

The Goose Creek cops defend their decision to aim loaded weapons at unarmed
school kids by insisting that, theoretically, there could have been some
sort of danger, even though they had no evidence or reports of potential
violence. "Anytime you have qualified information regarding drugs and large
amounts of money, there's a reasonable assumption weapons are involved,"
said Lt. Dave Aarons - an argument undermined by the fact that no drugs or
money were found, either.

The Goose Creek Police: Too Dumb To Catch You, Just Dumb Enough To Shoot You.

And would it be rude to point out that there is a theoretical danger of
running into a weapon virtually anywhere the police go? What, do the Goose
Creek cops kick in the door of the Dunkin' Donuts with their guns out, too?

When George McCrackin and the cops defend their gunslinging as "zero
tolerance," the only response is laughter: The same people who would kick
out a Stratford senior for brandishing a plastic "spork" in the cafeteria
are now waving loaded weapons in the halls.

There is only one response a rational adult can have to the images of this
idiotic police behavior we saw on our TV screens, and that is outrage -
pure and unbounded. Why then is there so little of it?

Because we're not talking about rational adults. We're talking about South
Carolinians. The people of South Carolina never met a kid who couldn't use
a swift kick in the britches. So what if they got a gun in the face - Do
'em some good! What did George McCrackin call it - a "valuable experience?"
Damn straight!

"I'm sure students were frightened, but the harm they're in with drug
dealers is far greater than the police coming in," said one Goose Creek
mother, seemingly unaware that no druggies were caught. "I trust them to do
what's right," she said. Even when it's obviously wrong.

Another local woman called a Lowcountry radio show to say the raid would
have been justified even if one of the students had been shot.

How little these parents must think of their children. I imagine for a
moment that it was my child crouched on the floor, one slight finger
movement away from death - all for no good reason - and I burn with anger.
I try to imagine what this principal and his police officers would say if
it were their sons and daughters literally under the gun.

It wasn't, of course. It never would have been. Yes, George McCrackin's two
children attend Stratford, but like most of the students at Stratford,
they're white. The vast majority of the kids rousted in the hall were black.

And so it goes.

With no drugs, no arrests, and facing an avalanche of well-deserved
lawsuits, Berkeley County and the cops have fallen back to the lamest of
defenses, that the raid was worth it no matter what the consequences
because it "sent a message" to the students.

It sure did. They know now beyond a reasonable doubt that the people in
authority over them are both dangerous and stupid. And given their parents'
support for these two principles, there are few prospects conditions will
change any time soon.