There’s an intriguing irony in legendary actor Paul Newman passing away shortly before former Maryland State Police Superintendent Thomas E. “Tim” Hutchins made his comments before state legislators last week.
You can’t see it? Oh, bear with me. You will.
I urge you to recall a scene from my favorite Newman movie, “Cool Hand Luke.” It’s the one where Luke is having chains shackled to his ankles, and the prison farm captain tells him “(Those chains) are gonna remind you of what I’ve been saying — for your own good.”
Hutchins must have been channeling the spirit of the captain when he testified before a state legislative committee about MSP spying on anti-war and death penalty activists. (The surveillance occurred on Hutchins’ watch.) According to news reports, here’s how Hutchins justified it:
“These organizations may be extremely well-meaning. But the fact of the matter is there are times when fringe people try to tag on to legitimate advocacy groups. Volatile demonstrations can erupt quickly and can cause harm to demonstrators and to law enforcement.”
Get it now? Hutchins was saying police spied on anti-war and anti-death penalty activists FOR THEIR OWN GOOD. He had state troopers spy on people who were engaged in lawful, CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED activity to keep them safe from the loonies on the fringes. As there are no news reports suggesting that Hutchins made these remarks with anything other than a straight face, we have to assume he was serious.
And that should worry us. And it should also raise a plethora of questions. Assuming Hutchins is right about fringe elements latching on to legitimate groups (and believe me he is; I’ve observed fringe loonies do precisely that from time to time) the fact remains that police — state or local — can’t really investigate or arrest these people until they’ve broken the law. How does surveillance stop them from breaking the law?
Some of these loonies — you know, the ones who love to bomb abortion clinics and murder doctors who perform abortions — no doubt latch on to legitimate, nonviolent anti-abortion groups. I’ve written about it before and I challenge either Hutchins or current Superintendent Col. Terrence B. Sheridan to answer this question: Can we assume from Hutchins’ comments that state police are conducting or have conducted surveillance of anti-abortion demonstrators, the better to ferret out the clinic-bombing, doctor-killing loonies?
And let’s look more closely at Hutchins’ comment that “volatile demonstrations can erupt quickly and can cause harm to demonstrators and to law enforcement.”
So there must have been an instance in Maryland when anti-war or anti-death penalty activists held peaceful demonstrations that suddenly became “volatile,” “erupted quickly” and “caused harm to demonstrators and to law enforcement.”
Hutchins needs to provide documentation about when and where those volatile demonstrations occurred. He needs to tell us which demonstrators and which law enforcement officers were harmed. And he needs to do all that like, say, yesterday. Because I can’t recall a single anti-death penalty demonstration in Maryland that has ever turned either volatile or violent.
Let me reacquaint Hutchins with a couple of phrases that have worked their way into our lingo. One is “probable cause.” Another is “reasonable suspicion.” If state police had neither probable cause nor reasonable suspicion that anything unlawful had occurred or would occur at the public rallies held by anti-war and anti-death penalty activists, then state police shouldn’t have been keeping tabs on them.
On the other hand let’s say that I, Greg Kane, am a known loony from the fringes. I’ve been known to commit violent acts. I make a habit of attending anti-Iraq war and anti-death penalty rallies.
In that case, state and local police would have every right to attend those meetings and conduct surveillance of ME ONLY. Not of the entire group. Not to take down names and have people added to a terrorist list who don’t belong there.
Hutchins’ “volatile demonstrations” justification doesn’t pass the smell test, especially in the absence of any indications that anti-abortion groups were monitored for fringe elements as well.
And so far, neither the former nor the current state top cop has given us that indication.
Gregory Kane is a columnist who has been writing about Maryland and Baltimore for more than 15 years. Look for his columns in the editorial section every Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at [email protected].
