In a press conference held after the Sept. 8 capture of suspected cop-killer Ralph “Buck” Phillips, New York State Police Superintendent Wayne Bennett emphasized that those who attack the police will be hunted down at any cost. As opposed to, say, someone who merely shoots an optometrist in Virginia. “You’re not gonna shoot one of our people and get away with it.”
Is this an example of further encroachment of a police state? Not really – it’s always been standard operating procedure. But isn’t granting agents of the state special powers and protections a small step towards tyranny? Exactly the opposite, according to Superintendent Bennett. “Shooting at the people who protect society … that can never be tolerated, that’s tyranny.”
