Untitled Document
Attached you will find a letter that I received today from the police precinct
in the region in which I live. Before I proceed with the full translation let
me give you the short version of the content.
The police is calling for volunteers (parents, people with full time jobs,
professionals, etc.) to join them on a voluntary basis and to assist in the
tasks of surveillance, prevention of crimes, traffic checkpost controls, to
protect and *correct* the behavior of citizens.
I believe this is worthy of a mention on your sites given that it is documented
proof of government involvement in active recruitment of what I call "snitches
in uniform". I certainly don't need to remind you guys that these are practices
not unlike the former German Stazi who turned many citizens into snitches and
"surveillance staff".
Even more of a concern is that the letter states that volunteers that wish
to participate need to be at least 16.5 years old which means that there is
a potential for young kids to be sucked into the police state brainwash machine,
to give them a little fake power and ficticious influence in order to have them
do the dirty work that the government
is unable (due to legal restrictions that often don't apply to civilians) to
do themselves. Needless to say the public reaction to kids, who will most likely
not even know the law, attempting to correct the behavior of citizens will only
lead to more problems.
As for a quick translation of what the letter says;
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Why this letter?
We are looking for motivated colleagues for the "volunteer police".
Colleagues, who due to their attitude and after a thorough course, will be able
to professionally handle situations in the streets. We are looking for people
who preferably have a large amount of professional and life experience. Woman
and men with jobs, perhaps
even with families who are raising kids, who would want to give up their free
time to assist in improving the safety in their neighborhood. People who, in
a special way, want to provide something to their communities. Perhaps you are
one of these people?
The tasks?
Provide help where needed, watch over and surveil, assist in preventing misdemeanors
and crimes, assist with traffic check points and other events. Just to show
that you are around.... to protect, to help, and sometimes also to correct (ed::the
context of the language used implies that it is to correct behavior or actions
of other citizens::). You will work within a regional team together with professional
colleagues. You will have diverse tasks which include events like the marathon
and
the summer carnaval and will participate in district/region actions such as
alocohol checks (ed::those are traffic checkpoints where folks are checked for
DUI)::.
Requirements for the uniform-wearing duties;
The requirements for a "volunteer police officer" are the same as
for a professional police officer and surveillor, you need to be at least 16.5
years of age, have the Dutch nationality, and have a high school diploma or
equivalent work- and intelligence levels. You need to be prepared to give up
least 250 hours each year (including our course) of your free time, to be on
duty and on call. Of course you need to be healthy and
have a clean slate (e.g. no police record). And... to be prepared to spend weeknights
following our course.
What more can the police offer?
Working with the police is a special use of you free time. Free time, which
you will spend in one of the most noteworthy areas of the city in your own community
and environment (or a different region if you so wish). Needless to say we will
provide a modest annual fee, an hourly fee, travel cost reimbursement, and a
small fee for clothing. The course we offer is free of charge.
The rest of the letter is mostly a lot of filling and an invitation to come
to the precinct where they will hold an informative talk about this new project.
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It is obvious from the letter that the police are looking for volunteers who
will not be given the employed or legal status of law enforcement. That means
volunteers can be given orders which they most likely will not fully understand
in the context of the law, in order to use them to do the tasks that normal
law enforcement is unable to do without just cause or court orders. It is not
unlike how in the US truck drivers and cable technicians have been asked to
look around and report suspicious behavior
or other things. Snitches, to be blunt. If a police officer doesn't follow the
rules that apply to themselves they can be reprimanded, carreer opportunities
can be impaired, or they can be fired and the city can be sued. In the case
of these volunteers which remain volunteers the law does not apply in the same
way. At worst a volunteer will be banned from taking further part in the project
but as a citizen your options for real
justice will be slim to none.
It goes without saying that projects like this tend to attract a majority of
individuals who are power hungry or otherwise suffer from the kind of mental
illness which is the cause of their desire to feel important and to feel like
they are in control of others. So it will just be a matter of time before greater
civil unrest will set in... which of course is most likely what the government
prefers given that it allows them to take
more civil rights away from the people and allows them to create and activate
police-state-like measures.