February 25, 2003
USA Patriot Act in Action in Sante Fe
Paranoia Blamed for St. John's Incident
A former Santa Fe public defender who said he was handcuffed Thursday at the St. John's College library and interrogated by Secret Service agents for several hours said Saturday that he plans to sue the government for violating his rights.
According to Andrew J. O'Connor, 40, a former Santa Fe public defender, two city police officers removed him from the school's library about 9 p.m. Thursday while he was using a computer.
"They Mirandized me, handcuffed me and took me to the police station where two Secret Service agents from Albuquerque interrogated me for hours," O'Connor said. "This whole level-orange (terror alert) thing has them all paranoid, I guess."
Senators Table Patriot Act Measure
The man who last week was handcuffed by local police at St. John's College, detained for several hours and questioned by federal agents about his politics took his story to the state Legislature on Thursday.
Santa Fe Police Detain Library Patron over Chat-Room Visit
A St. John's College Library visit by a former public defender was abruptly interrupted February 13 when city police officers arrested him about 9 p.m. at the computer terminal he was using, handcuffed him, and brought him to the Santa Fe, New Mexico, police station for questioning by Secret Service agents from Albuquerque. Andrew J. O'Conner, 40, who was released about five hours later, said in the February 16 Santa Fe New Mexican, “I’m going to sue the Secret Service, Santa Fe Police, St. John’s, and everybody involved in this whole thing.”
According to O'Connor, the agents accused him of making threatening remarks about President George W. Bush in an Internet chat room. Admitting he talked politics face-to-face in the library with a woman who was wearing a "No war with Iraq" button, O'Connor recalled saying that Bush is "out of control," but that "I'm allowed to say all that. There is this thing called freedom of speech." He also speculated that the FBI might have been observing him because of his one-time involvement in a pro-Palestinian group in Boulder, Colorado.
Earlier on the same day O'Connor was questioned, officials at St. John's—as well as at the College of Santa Fe and Santa Fe Community College—issued warnings to students and faculty that the FBI had been alerted to the presence of "suspicious" people on campus within the past four weeks.
Concern about threats to individual privacy under the USA Patriot Act has prompted New Mexico legislators in both houses to propose resolutions urging state police not to help federal agents infringe on civil rights. The resolutions also encourage libraries to post prominent signage warning patrons that their library records are subject to federal scrutiny without their permission or knowledge.
Posted by John at February 25, 2003 12:03 PM | TrackBack
At this point I would like to remain anonymous. I am a 15 year old high school freshmen. While I like to think of myself as a patriot, there are many things about this great nations current status that bother me momentously. In some ways, the Patriot Act is a good thing. With American lives at stake, I believe it is neccessary to use the act. However, that is not always true. Going by the information in this article, I am ashamed of allowing the act to be used in such a way. I firmly believe that president Bush is a moronic daddy's boy who is using the armed forces as his own private bully squad. At home and abroad, there are serious flaws in the American policy and legal system. Should we be willing to sacrafice a limited amount of freedom in order to preserve American life? To this question I give a very firm yes. I love my country and want to serve it in every way I can. At present, I believe that the best way I can serve my country is to not be afraid to speek out. For all I know, my words are being collected and processed at the NSA. However, I do not care. Every day I ask myself, why is Bush so intent on going to war with Iraq, yet is blatantly ignoring North Korea? I do not know the answer to this question, I do know however that at present Bush is perforating an image of the U.S. as an international bully. Currently, he is an idiot, but if we declare war on Iraq, the American soldiers who die in that war will be the result of the President's blatant disregard for human life. At that point, he will have transversed from a moron to a murderer. I think that something should be done about terrorist states, but not like this.
Posted by: Bryan on February 28, 2003 06:44 AMEvery day we read of more and more bizarre police-state-like actions in the USA. The country is victim of rampant fear and ignorance and the government certainly plays a part in it. I have sympathy for people who suffer these indignities.
Posted by: John on March 8, 2003 04:08 PMAll I can say is wow, the police and government would never get away with infringing on our human rights and freedom of speech and expression here in Canada... I feel for the anti-war people in the States and I have to agree with them.. It's pretty bad when the number 2 economic contributer is the prison industry.. You have less rights in the States then some 3rd world countries.. Sad, but true.. So much for western world security and peace.. As your president has said his great nation has had forever.therefore he must defend it... If you want to be arrested for freedom of speech or expression, that's not free....dum!!!
Good Luck to our neighbours of the South... Lets hope for a peacful ending to this..
Mike Meaney
St. John's, NL
CANADA
This kind of behavior was observed in Germany in the 1930s---- right down to Chancelor Hitler revoking civil and human rights "for security reasons," and detaining citizens who had not committed any other crime except criticizing Hitler. I never in my wildest nightmare believed that we would be seeing the Fourth Reich born in America: I thought we had Constitutional protections against such crimes against the citizenry!
Posted by: Marty on April 30, 2003 09:34 PM