Hello Freedomphiles!  Did you know that the Boston PD is asking local residents in high-crime areas to sign away their 4th Amendment rights?  Did you know that the most astonishing thing about it is that the people are doing it?

Under the experimental program, dubbed "Safe Homes," teams of police officers assigned to Boston's public schools will hunt for leads on youths believed to have guns. Tips might come from neighbors, or even parents or guardians, who are often fearful of their own children. Three plainclothes officers and a clergyperson or community activist will show up at the youth's home. The officers will ask parents to sign a form allowing the search of the home, including the child's room. Weapons found in the child's possession will be seized, and no charges will be filed unless the weapon is linked to a violent crime. "This is an interaction between human beings, where common sense will prevail," Edward Davis, Boston's police commissioner, told TIME.

This just mystifies me.  Who knows what they will find during these searches?  They've only promised not to prosecute gun crimes.  What if they find drugs or stolen property?  You've already incriminated yourself.

I would think that since these neighborhoods are made up of people who didn't even have civil rights until about 40 years ago, they'd be extra careful to safeguard them. 

Not so:

The ACLU's opposition, however, has failed to move many community residents in neighborhoods directly impacted. "I understand political correctness and the potential civil liberties risks. But until you have bullets flying over your head, I suggest you take your leaflets and keep them in the suburbs," says the Rev. Jeffrey Brown, interim executive director of Boston TenPoint Coalition, a group heavily involved in reducing gang violence, particularly among the city's black and Latino youth. Brown says he plans to walk with police officers during searches.

Believe me, Rev. Brown, the secret to safety and security is not found in giving up your fundamental rights to your government.  It is in protecting them at all costs.

If the police have evidence that there are illegal weapons in a home, they shouldn't have any problem getting a warrant. 

I can totally see this turning into a "consent or we'll use your non-consent as evidence of a crime" situation.  I can see them profiling and bullying parents into allowing searches that bring no guns, but arrests for other things.

This is an end-run around habeus corpus, as well as the 4th and 5th Amendments, and I don't like it one bit.

Whole story here.