Cops do what they're told.

This is a recurring theme here at the Soapbox. Cops do what they're told.
To be fair, in the absence of specific orders, in North America anyway, cops will use their brain and do the morally correct and righteous thing more often than not. But...

...When they do get specific orders to behave in an unacceptable manner and to do things which are -clearly- illegal, immoral and reprehensible, THEY FOLLOW THEM.

Vaillancourt was one of thousands of people who found themselves in a national park as the federal government shutdown went into effect on Oct. 1. For many hours her tour group, which included senior citizen visitors from Japan, Australia, Canada and the United States, were locked in a Yellowstone National Park hotel under armed guard.

The tourists were treated harshly by armed park employees, she said, so much so that some of the foreign tourists with limited English skills thought they were under arrest.

When finally allowed to leave, the bus was not allowed to halt at all along the 2.5-hour trip out of the park, not even to stop at private bathrooms that were open along the route.

"We've become a country of fear, guns and control," said Vaillancourt, who grew up in Lawrence. "It was like they brought out the armed forces. Nobody was saying, 'we're sorry,' it was all like — " as she clenched her fist and banged it against her forearm.

Surely that's an exaggeration, isn't it? Well, apparently not.

The bus stopped along a road when a large herd of bison passed nearby, and seniors filed out to take photos. Almost immediately, an armed ranger came by and ordered them to get back in, saying they couldn't "recreate." The tour guide, who had paid a $300 fee the day before to bring the group into the park, argued that the seniors weren't "recreating," just taking photos.

"She responded and said, 'Sir, you are recreating,' and her tone became very aggressive," Vaillancourt said.

The seniors quickly filed back onboard and the bus went to the Old Faithful Inn, the park's premier lodge located adjacent to the park's most famous site, Old Faithful geyser. That was as close as they could get to the famous site — barricades were erected around Old Faithful, and the seniors were locked inside the hotel, where armed rangers stayed at the door.

No "recreating". Translation: "No having fun you miserable peons, my superiors have given me specific instructions to see that you all have as lousy a time here as possible, and I am going to carry out those orders, so that I get a promotion."

Its not a government "shutdown" if the whole Parks Police force is on emergency overtime, is it? Its something else. Something more like a show of force, to scare the stupid public into calling up those damn Republicans so they'll knuckle under to the Dems like they're supposed to and get the government opened back up again. Before something bad might happen.

Now might be an excellent time to remind everyone that the National Parks Police have their own SWAT team. Which I have no doubt some apparatchik somewhere is aching to take out for a drive, despite the web page being shut down today.

Because of the federal government shutdown, all national parks are closed and National Park Service webpages are not operating. For more information, go to www.doi.gov.

 

Last Updated: 10/01/2013

So, where did these orders issue from you ask? Who said to throw the old people out of Yellowstone Park?  Even though its a PRIVATELY OWNED HOTEL they were staying in, not Federal Parks property. Well, who told the DC Parks cops to barricade the WWII Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial but not the WWI Memorial? And who gave permission today for a pro-immigration demonstration on the otherwise closed DC Mall?

The White House. Or so says the Christian Science Monitor, anyway.

Yet to some people, it also seems federal officials are going out of their way to make the shutdown painfully symbolic. Many of the open-air monuments currently barricaded were not closed during earlier shutdowns. Some, including the World War II Memorial, were closed by express orders from the White House, according to the Park Service.

At Gettysburg, park officials barricaded pulloffs on a public road so people couldn't stop and view the monuments from the public right of way. Such pulloff barricades suggest to experts like Mr. Reynolds at the University of Tennessee that the cones are simply there out of spite – an evocation of the power and necessity of the federal government.

At Valley Forge National Historical Park, a man named John Bell entered the monument through what he said was an ungated entrance, but was ticketed by two rangers when he returned to his car. At Maine's Acadia National Park, rangers have also been issuing fines to campers, bikers, and hikers who have jumped the barricades.

Just popping up on Drudge is another example of SuperCop overreach, Grand Canyon PArk in Arizona.

Nearly two dozen people have been issued citations for entering Grand Canyon National Park after a partial government shutdown forced its closure.

Grand Canyon Chief Ranger Bill Wright says some people have been caught at the South Rim, on trails, attempting rim-to-rim hikes or trying to sneak in through dirt roads.

All of the citations will be handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office. Wright says each of the 21 citations issued as of Monday has a mandatory order to appear in federal court.

A state highway that runs through the national park was closed after Grand Canyon officials found tourists removing barricades at overlooks along the road.

Yes friends, US Parks Service closed a state road. Legally, they can't actually do that as far as I know. Its a matter of some concern for Arizona, as nearly every major highway in the state runs through or past some kind of national park or monument. 
 

Y'all might want to contemplate what might happen if The One takes it into his head to close the Interstate Highway System because of the "shutdown". Its federally funded, after all. And the cops really will follow those orders. Count on it.

The Phantom