7 ms·
The cases cited in the story are more in line with bureaucrats maintaining budget. By that I mean you have an agency that needs to justify their budget of X do
by te_platt 17y ago
The cases cited in the story are more in line with bureaucrats maintaining budget. By that I mean you have an agency that needs to justify their budget of X dollars with Y convictions to show for it. It's hard to imagine any of the agents mentioned being much concerned about orchids. It's easy to imagine them being concerned about their careers.
- idm 17y agoAgreed. Whatever the motivations of the agents referred to in the article, it is still the case that "inappropriate" laws were applied to (presumably) non-criminal activity. It's just speculation on my part, but my theory had to do with those how those laws came to exist. Once the laws exist, then it's just a matter of any agent sufficiently familiar with those laws to apply them. By that point, it doesn't need to be vigilante activity. An agent with only the best intentions can end up causing harm (i.e. convert a free citizen into a criminal) simply because the laws are flawed.