Oops, our bad (cont’d).
Here's a pretty old post from the blog archives of Geekery Today; it was written about 13 years ago, in 2011, on the World Wide Web.
Sage Wisdom. Daily Brickbats (2011-06-17):
A Broward County, Florida, sheriff’s deputy spotted Robin Brown when she was bird watching one day. He thought that the sage she had with her was marijuana, and a field test seemed to confirm that. He didn’t arrest her then, but confiscated the sage and sent it to the crime…
Want to guess how much compensation she might be able to get from police and state prosecutors to make up for the harassment, arrest, abduction, sexual assault, torture, and confinement that they inflicted on her, a completely innocent bird-watcher, based on nothing more than belligerent ignorance, a fraudulent “field kit,” and pure, callous negligence?
Ha, ha, it’s a trick question. Even if she does win her lawsuit (which will be hard; the system overwhelmingly favors immunity for government violence), the police and prosecutors will never pay anything for the damages she’s awarded. Government police and state prosecutors never pay for what they do to innocent people; you pay for their crimes instead, when they send the tax bill on to you.
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I’m reminded of Brazil.
Via http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/blumen3.html
From: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/movies/brazil-faq/
What is Information Retrieval charging?
A subplot that many viewers of BRAZIL seem to miss entirely is that of Information Retrieval charging. “Information Retrieval” is a euphemism for “interrogation” or “torture.” The extent of Information Retrieval Charging is revealed in Deputy Minister Conrad Helpmann’s interview, which is shown on the telescreen while a technician swipes at the beetle which determines the fate of the movie. The interviewer asks the Deputy Prime Minister about the economics of the terrorist situation, and the Deputy Prime Minister replies:
“I understand this concern on behalf of the taxpayers. People want value for money. That’s why we always insist on the principal of Information Retrieval charges. It’s absolutely right and fair that those found guilty should pay for their periods of detention and the Information Retrieval procedures used in their interrogations.”
The check Lowry delivers to Mrs. Buttle is a check for the amount debited from the Buttle’s charge account when Mr. Buttle was interrogated and killed (because of Information Retrieval’s torturous methods) early in the film. The police officer says to Sam after he is strapped into the chair at the torture chamber “Don’t fight it son, confess quickly. If you hold out too long, you could jeopardize your credit rating.” Note that this is not merely a funny line; a scene present only in the ER (and presumably in the forthcoming laserdisc) has a MOI official arranging a way for Sam to pay his charges via installments.
Inspiration for this subplot may have possibly stemmed from German history — the Nazis were known to charge Jews for their forced passage to the concentration camps. Gilliam has mentioned that he discovered that South American countries were also charging for interrogation and torture, and the practice was also used during the Salem witch trials.