The Exchange

Cunning Lingle

June 16, 2005
What Governor Linda Lingle said in the Summer Issue of Connections, the official newsletter of the Maui Chamber of Commerce:

"The Legislature supported other initiatives that are priorities for my administration, including… giving law enforcement officials more tools to prevent and prosecute crime."

What she didn't say:

Such "tools" look a lot like police state practices. Lingle's called for "strengthening Hawai'i's electronic surveillance laws" and "toughening mandatory sentencing laws." But the scariest was her asking the legislature to pass "a constitutional amendment legalizing the 'walk and talk' and 'knock and talk' programs." She'd need an amendment because back in 1992 the state Supreme Court ruled such programs—where police officers can ask to search and frisk people at airport terminals with no probably cause—were blatantly unconstitutional because "a reasonable person would not believe it possible to ignore the officer's questions and walk away."

-Anthony Pignataro

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