Insult a Cop

Three residents of Arena, Wisconsin posted critical and provocative messages on the Facebook page of the local police department. All of those comments were purged by the officer who administered that page. Only one of them, however, resulted in criminal charges.Thomas Smith was arrested and charged with “disorderly conduct” and “unlawful use of a computerized communication system” in a fashion that “tended to cause a disturbance.” Following a brief and perfunctory trial in which Smith’s written comments were the only “evidence” used against him, the 23-year-old was convicted and sentenced to a year of probation and 25 hours of “community service.”

Smith’s conviction was overturned roughly a year later by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. This gave rise to the inevitable civil rights lawsuit, which which last week produced a $35,000 settlement underwritten by the productive people sentenced to reside within Arena’s tax jurisdiction. peace might have resulted.”

Even if Smith’s comments had found a receptive audience in Arena, the torpid hamlet doesn’t have a population large enough to generate a riot. However, five of its residents belong to that segment of society claiming the right to initiate violence and escalate it until those thus targeted either submit or die – and it was those state-licensed practitioners of coercion who committed a breach of the peace by abducting Smith at gunpoint.

Thomas Smith, who eventually received modest compensation for his suffering, is one of a growing number of citizens who have faced retaliation by police for critical comments made through social media. Impudent Mundanes have been targeted by orchestrated police union campaigns intended todestroy the livelihood, hit with felony “witness intimidation” charges, and even prompted no-knock SWAT raids.

It’s worth noting that although locating and detaining three young men suspected of property crimes was beyond the competence of the Arena PD, the department was a model of efficiency in tracking down and arresting a harmless fellow who had posted an offensive note on their Facebook page. In that contrast we see a splendid example of the institutional vanity of government law enforcement – and a good and sufficient illustration of why we would be much better off without it.