Some Pigs are More Equal than Others

Elizabeth Conley · Jan 21, 2012

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnew...0k-get-6-months-in-jail-if-youre-a-tsa-worker

Steal $40K, Get 6 Months in Jail — If You’re a TSA Worker

Steal $40,000 from a bank, and you’ll spend a decade or two in prison. Steal $40,000 from an airplane passenger’s luggage and you’ll get six months — if you’re a Transportation Security Administration employee, that is.

On January 10, 44-year-old Coumar Persad and 31-year-old Davon Webb, eight-year veterans of the TSA force at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, were sentenced to six months in jail and five years’ probation after pleading guilty to having stolen $40,000 from a passenger’s suitcase in January 2011. At the time of the men’s arrest, authorities told CBS New York that the suspects had apparently helped themselves to passengers’ possessions before, Persad having allegedly admitted to prior instances.

Indeed, it does appear that they had a system worked out in advance of the 2011 incident. Persad spotted the cash while X-raying the bag, which was destined for Buenos Aires. He told Webb to mark the bag with tape so they could easily find it later — which they did, removing as much cash as they could fit into their pockets. (There was $170,000 in all, belonging to a woman authorities have been unable to contact in Argentina; they believe she may have been a drug courier who was killed because of the missing money.)
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“I fail to understand why, even with a plea, these men were given such a light sentence,” Turley writes. But really, it’s no mystery. The simple fact of the matter is that being employed by the government tends to insulate one from the legal consequences of his behavior. Police officers who mistreat the people they are supposed to be protecting and serving often end up merely being put on “administrative leave” while their departments conduct investigations that — more often than not — find that the officers did nothing wrong. Military employees and contractors who brutalize detainees are given cover by Presidents, who, in turn, are not prosecuted by their successors. Even just being well connected in Washington is enough to escape prosecution, as witness Congress’ retroactive grant of immunity to telecommunications companies who cooperated with the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping of Americans’ phone calls. In fact, about the only surefire way for a government employee to be hounded by the law as a civilian would is to rat on the government. Uncle Sam doesn’t like stool pigeons any better than the Mob does; just ask Pfc. Bradley Manning.
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I can't fault this analysis. Preferential treatment for government thugs is erroding public confidence. Shouldn't there be a higher penalty to be paid for damaging public trust and abusing official authority?

Caradoc · Jan 23, 2012

Elizabeth Conley said: ↑

Shouldn't there be a higher penalty to be paid for damaging public trust and abusing official authority?
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Absolutely. I'm all for public flogging in cases like this.

Elizabeth Conley · Jan 23, 2012

Caradoc said: ↑

Absolutely. I'm all for public flogging in cases like this.
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Not me. I'm for putting them in the stocks so that housewives and small boys can pelt 'em with rotten eggs and spoiled tomatoes.

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Some Pigs are More Equal than Others

Elizabeth Conley Original Member

Caradoc Original Member

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Some Pigs are More Equal than Others

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