Street takeover law needed immediately
Dear Editor,
I certainly agree that the recent wave of street takeovers around the country, including downtown Boston, is a terrible development. We should focus on why this is happening, and then determine the best route to deter it. It is not a simple problem, but is part of larger issues within our society. And using social media to get a crowd works as we’ve seen. Concerning the perpetrators, from where does this desire to destroy come?
The suggestion that police should use dum-dum bullets, fire them thru car windows is a violent reaction, not problem solving, and could result in serious injury or even death. Dum-dum bullets were outlawed by the Hague Peace Conference of 1899. Specifically they ban bullets that expand or flatten easily in the human body, causing more severe damage. This prohibition has since become part of customary international humanitarian law.
My question is what motivates someone to write a letter such as the one printed in the October 24th issue? Police should have ‘military-grade weapons, including armored vehicles.’ Who is the enemy here? And how would our public authorities curb this issue, putting the illegal participants subject to attack by military vehicles & dum-dum bullets?
Our country is in deep trouble – the referenced letter represents one part of our moral decline. Was anyone else deeply troubled by this letter, and the mentality it represents? The author sounds like he/she thinks this should be a ‘normal’ response by our public authorities? That is frightening in the extreme.
Alexandra M. Dailey