Kid suspended over fishing knife found in Dad's car.

Schools are getting very Stalinist these days. Check this:

On Thursday, Duren-Sanner, a senior at Northeast High School drove his father's car to school. During a random lockdown, his car was chosen to be searched.

Duren-Sanner gave permission because he said he had nothing to hide.

His father is a commercial fisherman on the West Coast and had apparently left a fishing knife in the car. Duren-Sanner's father said it might have been wedged between one of the seats.

Duren-Sanner said he told school officials and the Sheriff's department the car was his father's and he didn't know the knife was in it.

"He's like 'it doesn't matter it was in your possession anyway,'" Duren-Sanner said.

School officials suspended him for 10 days, the maximum allowed under school policy, and then he was reprimanded to attend 90 days at an alternative school.

Peggy Duren is Duren-Sanner's grandmother whom he lives with. She said she tried explaining the knife didn't belong to her grandson, but claims school officials wouldn't listen.

"Unfortunately (the vice principal) said that's the way it is now: Guilty until proven innocent. It's part of this zero tolerance policy," she said."

Duren-Sanner also faces weapons charges with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department.

 
First of all, "random lockdown"? That's what they do in jail when they toss your cell looking for shivs. A high school with a random lockdown program, that's pretty messed up.

Second of all, "his car was chosen to be searched"? WTF is that? They search cars at school? The COPS search cars at school on a "random" basis, "random" being in scare quotes because we know d@mn well they don't stand there and go "eeny meeny miney moe" when they pick a car.

Third of all, and perhaps most damning, "Duren-Sanner gave permission because he said he had nothing to hide." Question, can a minor child below the age of majority even give permission for a police search? Can a school legally demand permission from a student under 18 in any case, given that the school has standing as a legal guardian during the time the child is in attendance? I'm thinking the answer to both those questions is probably "no". Possibly "HELL NO!", with a side order of lawsuit for denial of basic human rights and breach of the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, with multi-million dollar payout.

Fourth, weapons charges for a fishing knife found jammed under a seat in a locked car? As if. BUT, its going to cost money this family doesn't have to fight the bogus charge in court. The process is the punishment.

Here's the important take-home lesson from this parable. The answer to all requests for permission from all government officials at all times is always, always "NO". Because if you are attending a school where they have Random Lockdown and Police Searches as part of a regular school day, and you live in a town/city/county where school officials think that kind of thing is an appropriate use of school and police resources,
 you have something to hide.

Even if you just cleaned your car out to the bare carpet, and removed every lint spec and corn chip fragment from there with a vacuum cleaner, you have something to hide.  Because in Random Lockdownville, if cops don't find something, they might plant something. They might be bored that day. They might think it was funny. Their kid might want your kid's spot on the football team. You don't know, and you can't afford to take the chance.

Cops are not our friends and neighbors anymore. Neither are teachers or school principals. They are unionized minions of Big Government, and their interests and agendas diverged from the general welfare of the populace some time ago.

The Phantom