Delaware is giving to much power to city police officers and taking the rights of Delaware's residents.

If you live in the city of Wilmington, Delaware be prepared, at any time you may be stopped and frisked for no reason under a new recent ruling by the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, according to civil libertarians. Federal prosecutors, Wilmington officials say the ruling is a victory and vindication for aggressive patrol tactics by city police in high-crime areas. With this new ruling giving police officers to much power, and the citizens less rights truly going to be the problem solver for Wilmington or is this going to increase violence and crime out to the counties. Or is this now going to become the standard law for all of Delaware and perhaps to a city and state near you. Is this going to curb crime and the control the guns and shooting of innocent people or is this going to cause a high level or concern for individuals rights? According to Professor Jan Ting at Temple University School of Law School said it should encourage Wilmington as well as the U.S. Attorney's Office to pursue gun prosecutions. A person carrying a gun without the use of a permit, or in the use of committing a crime I would like to see the law being carried out in getting the guns off of the streets of not only Wilmington, but all over all the streets of the United States. But have we really come to the point where we need to have police officers stop anyone of their choice to search them for no reason? Just for walking down the street? Or because maybe the police officer is having a bad day and decides that he wants to take his frustrations out on someone? Then their is always the concern that this could be used as a vehicle to target black men and women to suffer from this law, which can become an instrustment of abusive power. Thank God, we have some reasonable folks that are looking into this and are willing to take this matter to the Supreme Court to fight this. The federal public defender for Delaware, Edson Bostic, said his office will attempt to take it to the U.S. Supreme Court. "We intend to litigate it vigorously," he said, though it will be up to the U.S. Supreme Court to decide if it is worthy of review. With the increase of lawlessness and countless people being victims of gun violence, we still need to keep a level head. We still need to make sure that the people's constitutional rights are still being upheld, with this new law, I don't see it being upheld. I understand that police officers become frustrated when they see someone that is known for carrying drugs and other contrabands on the streets as was the case with arrest of Thomas J. Smith on Jan. 8, 2008. Who at the time of his arrest, Wilmington police officers had no just caused in stopping him and he ran and the things that he had on him a handgun and drugs could not be used in trial. In a ruling by Delaware Chief District Gregory Sleet in 2008, he stated that Wilmington Police acted improperly during the arrest of Thomas J. Smith on Jan. 8, 2008. Wilmington James M. Baker is the 54th Mayor of Wilmington, Delaware. He took office in January, 2001 said he respectfully disagreed with Sleet's ruling and praised the appeals court reversal. "Our police department follows all laws, policies and procedures that protect the constitutional rights of criminal suspects while protecting the rights of citizens to be free of criminal activity." The concern that everyone should have is this, no matter what manner of attaire that you have on, you could be walking in a business suit, you could be wearing jeans that are baggy or worn with a belt and nice shirt or shorts, what makes you a target of police to stop and frisk you? And we also need to look at what if you the person who is being stopped, for breaking no law, but maybe you are having a bad day and you have a look of disgust on your face or you appear to be antsy, maybe you are running to catch a bus to take you home or to work. Or perhaps you are at Rodney Square and happen to see someone that you have not seen in a long time, and you are just talking and the police do not like the expressions on your face, or the way you carry yourself, should this be just caused to stop someone and frisk them, since there is now no guidelines into what you can be stopped and frisked for. Delaware is a very small state with a population of 873.092 has of December of 2008. Crime has increased on alarming increase in Delaware which is small numbers compared to other states, but with a state that is the size of Delaware it is alarming any homicide or people that are hurt or lives scattered in a crime is a horrific experience that not one is acceptable. But we also have to look at and take i nto consideration, if we police are given this right to search people at will for no just caused, how many youths that are not into criminal activity will be used by people that are to be the cover for them or that will just become discouraged that they are striving to make a decent life for themselves and doing the right thing and they become the victim of harrassement by police officers? While we are living in the days where tasers are beoming a daily occurene and people are being killed and suffering from paralysis, having heart attacks with 50,000 volts of electric going threw their bodies we need to have a review of all the citzens of Delaware in to what is the best way to handle to alarming numbers of crime in this state. We need to take a page out of President Barrack Obama's book and hold town meetings on these issues that are becoming a major concern with Delaware, without looking at every citzen as a threat to society that should be searched at the will of the police officers. We need to ensure that all citzens rights are protected under the laws that was granted to the people of Delaware and the rest of the country. Are our we going to have Delaware the state that you don't want to visit because you can be stopped and frisked for no just cause and scare people away from coming to our beautiful historic state? What is your opinion, how do you think we come up with a fair and equal balance in our state for police officers and residents to have respect for each other? Drewry Fennell, executive director of Delaware American Civil Liverties Union, stated that "I think it gives police a tremendous amount of leeway in how they handle an encounter and gives the person they encounter much less leeway in deciding whether they want to engage the police or not. Does the late Michael Jackson's song they really don't care about us, ring true for the residents of Delaware and the rest of the United States?

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090811/NEWS01/908110336/-1/NLETTER01/Cops-have-gotten-too-powerful--critics-say?source=nletter-news