A Stitch in Haste

lost enforcement = when law enforcement, politicians or bureaucrats, when unsure of what the law is, choose to err on the side of arrest, threatening to arrest, confiscation of property or otherwise improperly infringing on individual liberties, often under the guise of "act now and let the courts figure it out later"

Outrageous:

Orange County's sheriff used driver's license records to contact a woman who wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper citicizing his staff's use of Taser stun guns and describing him as fat.

Some say Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary violated federal privacy law when he had his aides use the records to get the address of Alice Gawronski. He sent her a letter accusing her of slander.

It is illegal to access a driver's license database to obtain personal information, except for clear law-enforcement purposes, under the U.S. Driver's Privacy Protection Act of 1994.

"I recently read your slanderous remarks about the Orange County Sheriff's Office in the Orlando Sentinel," Beary wrote Gawronski on March 23. "It is unfortunate that people ridicule others without arming themselves with the facts before they slander a law enforcement agency or individual."

Gawronski said, "I thought I was exercising my First Amendment right of free speech - expressing an opinion in an open forum about a paid public official." She considered Beary's letter a form of intimidation.

Just two quick comments:

--That would be “libel,” not “slander.”

--I guess we have a new political term: “activist sheriffs.”

Recent "Lost Enforcement" Posts:
"Lost Enforcement": Youngsters Arrested, Handcuffed for Crayon Drawings
"Lost Enforcement": A Tale of Two Travesties
"Lost Enforcement": Gay Couple Told Kissing "Illegal" in Texas
"Lost Enforcement": Dallas Cowboy Gear Banned from Polls
"Lost Enforcement": Preventing Students from Voting