You Can't Trust People

I'm always suspicious of these 'see something, say something' efforts. They always seem to turn out like this.
In April, the Trump Administration launched what it called the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) hotline, with a stated mission to “provide proactive, timely, adequate, and professional services to victims of crimes committed by removable aliens.” But internal logs of calls to VOICE obtained by Splinter show that hundreds of Americans seized on the hotline to lodge secret accusations against acquaintances, neighbors, or even their own family members, often to advance petty personal grievances.
They're targeting Trump in the article, because of course they are, but 'if you see something, say something' was an Obama-era phrase, adopted by the Feds in 2010. They even trademarked it, as if the government had something to fear from copyright infringement. It was part of the "Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative," which could hardly be a more ominous name. I'm guessing "Spy On Your Neighbor" must have been taken.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The only program like that that has ever made sense was one specifically for pilots and employees at small airports, and it came about after the attempted hijacking of a medical aircraft. Otherwise? Too STASI for my tastes, thanks.

LittleRed1

J Melcher said...

My daughter's college campus went into lock down the other day when somebody saw something and said something.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/arlington/2017/10/02/ut-arlington-police-looking-gun-toting-man-campus

Ymar Sakar said...

Good job to Trum for more SS stuff. Democrats love this kind of neighborhood spycraft.