Another logical and predictable result of zero tolerance

Posted on March 17, 2007 by Billy Dennis

Police in Baltimore, MD, arrested, handcuffed and fingerprinted a 7-year-old boy for riding a dirt bike. Don’t blame the cops, the were following the mayor’s iron-clad zero tolerance, anti-crime policy. You know, like the one I occasional hear people want here in Peoria. Behold the master criminal:

master-criminal.jpeg

I feel much safer. Much safer, in fact, than when I hear about kids being expelled for taking aspirin or being held at airports because their action figure has a 1 1/2 inch long plastic toy gun.

About Billy Dennis

Billy Dennis is lifelong Peorian, having attended Kingman, Glen Oak, Woodruff High School and Illinois Central College before finally tricking Eastern Illinois University into granting him a bachelor's degree in journalism. He's reported on police, fires, labor, local government and schools all across Illinois and Missouri. A former liberal Democrat, life experience turned him into a small-l libertarian.
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9 Responses to Another logical and predictable result of zero tolerance

  1. Mahkno says:
    March 17, 2007 at 9:10 am

    You are spinning Bill…. the article notes that the Baltimore PD acknowledged they were wrong in so many ways.

    You also left out that the ‘bike’ was motorized. The kid was riding a motorbike… sometimes called a motorcycle. Big difference from say a peddle driven bicycle.

    • Billy Dennis says:
      March 17, 2007 at 1:04 pm

      Oh … so the 7-year-old had been riding a motorbike. Well, that explains why he was handcuffed, arrested and fingerprinted. The little sociopath was lucky he wasn’t TASERed. Back in the day, he would have been beaten to a pulp with those huge flashlights some cops carry.

      • Mahkno says:
        March 17, 2007 at 1:23 pm

        Bill they acknowledged that the handling of the problem was over the top. He should not have been arrested. Why are you belaboring it? It is being resolved. That should be a positive.

        Now… if that 7 year old was tearing around the neighborhood playing chicken with residents while driving a motorbike and the little kid refused to listen to stop… I would be sorely tempted to yank him off the bike too before he hurts someone, including himself.. But the story doesn’t really get into that.

  2. Emtronics says:
    March 17, 2007 at 11:40 am

    Billy Dennis = Bill O’Rielly (The Spin Factor)

  3. Emtronics says:
    March 17, 2007 at 11:49 am

    aside: Billy, did you notice “catch and release” Lyons is seeking the death penalty in the murder of that elderly lady?

    • Billy Dennis says:
      March 17, 2007 at 1:05 pm

      Actually, Lyons ANNOUNCED that he was seeking the death penalty. He’s done that before for folks who are now enjoying life behind bars.

      I doubt Lyons could win a death penalty case.

  4. ollie says:
    March 17, 2007 at 12:58 pm

    I think that Bill’s point was that “zero tolerance” policies are mostly stupid.

    Why do we have them? We have them because somewhere some judge makes a dumb decision.

    So we have them, and someone makes a bad decision in terms of enforcing it.

    I’d just as soon that we have a system that encourages discression on the part of law enforcement, lawyers and judges, even if we have an occasional bad decision.

  5. Sam says:
    March 17, 2007 at 4:27 pm

    You doubt Lyons could win? What do you base this one? Seems the other four are in prison.

  6. Sammy 2 says:
    March 18, 2007 at 12:38 am

    Hey what do you expect from a society that these days sends kids to the principal’s office for inadvertantly kicking another kid in the ankle in a soccer game during recess? LOL! But a true dis.150 story.