WA State Patrol just issued an 8-point how to find terrorists card. The 8 points wouldn't paste.
Of course, for balance I wish they would ask the civil libertarians how to avoid having the cops find your extremist papers in the first place.... Nor do they issue disclaimers such as "just because it's in Arabic doesn't mean it's a terrorist publication.
DoreneC
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134659210_idcards22m.html
Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 12:06 a.m. Pacific
Terrorist tip sheet is issued to Patrol
By Ian Ith and Ken Armstrong
Seattle Times staff reporters
The State Patrol is providing
troopers with a tip sheet for
identifying potential terrorists, a list
that includes indicators as specific
as an altered passport and as vague
as a driver exhibiting "unusual"
behavior.
The wallet-sized training cards,
containing an eight-point test to
detect signs of possible terrorist
activity, were issued this week just
as the war with Iraq was beginning.
Patrol leaders said the cards are
simply meant to provide guidance as troopers assume new roles in
homeland security by looking out for behavior that might indicate
terrorism or terrorist ties.
"It's just a card," said Capt. Glenn Cramer of
the State Patrol. "It's not meant to be a legal
document. Just because someone has an
altered ID does not mean they're a terrorist.
All it means is the trooper needs to be more
inquisitive."
But some civil libertarians see the potential
for abuse in such indicators as the
presence of anti-government literature.
"Certainly law enforcement needs to be on
the lookout for evidence of terrorist
activities," said Doug Honig, spokesman for
the American Civil Liberties of Washington.
"But it all comes down to how intelligently it's
applied in practice. We would be very
concerned if people get targeted as terrorist
suspects based on their political views that
are critical of the government."
In compiling its indicators, the State Patrol
studied similar lists used by such other
law-enforcement agencies as the New
Mexico State Police.
Lt. Rob Shilling of the New Mexico State
Police said his agency drew up its list to
encourage officers to move beyond their
traditional duties.
"We want our officers to go beyond just
writing a traffic ticket," he said.
If a driver exhibits behavior that shows up on
the list, officers are encouraged to run the
driver's name through a criminal-information
database that would turn up any outstanding
warrants, Shilling said. Officers also pass
along whatever suspicious activity they see
to the New Mexico State Police's
counterterrorism unit, Shilling said.
In Washington, the card will be used much
the same way, Cramer said. The presence
of an indicator will mean the officer should
investigate further — but will not, by itself,
provide sufficient grounds for an otherwise
unlawful arrest or search.
"Certainly the card does not mean we are
going to search people without probable
cause or reasonable suspicion, because
we live in a democracy and we are part of
that democracy," he said.
Within the past year or two, such how-to-find terrorist lists have
popped up from small towns in Ohio to a kit distributed by the
Australian government.
That kit included a refrigerator magnet with crisis contact numbers
and a booklet asking citizens to report behavior such as unusual
videotaping or photography of official buildings.
In the United States, special classes or programs have been
created to instruct such groups as truckers, landlords and
neighborhood-watch groups on how to find a potential terrorist.
Landlords, for example, are taught to be wary of prospective
tenants with little or no rental history.
Ian Ith: 206-464-2109 or iith at seattletimes.com
Ken Armstrong: 206-464-3730 or karmstrong at seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company