Schools in Beaver County, Pennsylvania were shutdown on the basis for a voicemail greeting in which a student sings the theme air of “Fresh Prince of Bel Air.” That’s right, there appears little inquiry that is made between a call of a receptionists who misheard the lyrics of a song and a total police shutdown of a county.
This lunacy began after a receptionist at an eye doctor’s office called Travis Clawson, 19, to confirm his appointment and got his voice mail. Clawson’s voice mail has him singing the theme song which includes a line “shooting some b-ball outside of the school.” The receptionist heard “shooting people outside the school.” So she called the police.
Now that this point that someone might have wanted to wonder about the likelihood of a mass murderer recording his plan to shoot people in a recorded voice mail tune. Then there is the rest of the song that seem a bit consistent with a homicidal student.
Now this is the story all about how
My life got flipped, turned upside down
And I’d like to take a minute just sit right there
I’ll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel-airIn west Philadelphia born and raised
On the playground where I spent most of my days
Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool
And all shooting some b-ball outside of the school
When a couple of guys, they were up to no good
Started making trouble in my neighbourhood
I got in one little fight and my mom got scared
And said “You’re moving with your auntie and uncle in Bel-air”I whistled for a cab and when it came near the
License plate said “fresh” and had a dice in the mirror
If anything I could say that this cab was rare
But I thought nah, forget it, yo homes to Bel-air!I pulled up to a house about seven or eight
And I yelled to the cabby “Yo, homes smell you later!”
Looked at my kingdom I was finally there
To sit on my throne as the prince of Bel-air
It is not clear if anyone bothered to call the number and hear the theme song and either recognize it as the song from The Prince of Bel-Air or actually listen to the line. Instead, schools across the county were forced into lockdown for about 30 minutes as police searched for Clawson. He was found in his class at Ambridge High School and detained for three hours. Three hours. Again, why wouldn’t a ten second call to the voice mail put this to rest? It appears that they spent three hours confirming the location of Will Smith as a potential co-conspirator.
Now many of this see this story as a case of sheer lunacy, but Ambridge Area School District Superintendent Erv Weischedel felt it was a positive experience in showing that “”[w]hile this situation can be considered to be a false alarm, it was an excellent opportunity to test our emergency procedures. The procedures in place were efficient and quickly implemented and proved to be successful.” First, I would go a little further than saying that “this situation can be considered to be a false alarm.” It was a false alarm. It was the song of The Prince of Bel-Air. Second, if I were a parent, I would be more concerned that my children were under the supervision of people with little judgment or deductive reasoning.
Source: CBS
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Gene,
“It’s not just you.”
I’ll definitely sleep better knowing this!!
Graci, for the compliment. It was a fun project, and delightful to listen to.
gbk,
It’s not just you.
BTW, great job cleaning up those recordings.
Blouise,
“We might want to reconsider the whole Silent Night voicemail thingy.”
“Silent Night” would probably be less threating than, “Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire,” but maybe that’s just me.
http://www.hermes-press.com/education_index.htm
The Destruction
of American
Education
And What We
Must Do About It
By Dr. Norman D. Livergood
Frankly, I thought of that scene as well. At least, you know, that would make sense… This is just somebody’s voice mail. And it doesn’t even say anything about shooting anybody.
AP,
Great video fom Tommy Boy!
gbk,
We might want to reconsider the whole Silent Night voicemail thingy. 😉
In the Name of the Law: What the Public Isn’t Being Told About Police Misconduct
By Nick Grube and Patti Epler 02/25/2013
(It’s a 5-part series. — refer to links in earlier comment.)
The following series happens to be about Hawaii. Needed in every state…
5 or 6-part series:
http://www.civilbeat.com/specials/in-the-name-of-the-law/
http://www.civilbeat.com/articles/2013/02/25/18393-in-the-name-of-the-law-what-the-public-isnt-being-told-about-police-misconduct/
Here’s the ACLU Press Release:
ACLU Launches Nationwide Investigation into Police Use of Military Technology & Tactics
Militarization of Local Law Enforcement Erodes Civil Liberties, Encourages Overly Aggressive Policing
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2013
http://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/aclu-launches-nationwide-investigation-police-use-military-technology-tactics
NEW YORK – American Civil Liberties Union affiliates in 23 states today simultaneously filed more than 255 public records requests to determine the extent to which local police departments are using federally subsidized military technology and tactics that are traditionally used overseas.
“Equipping state and local law enforcement with military weapons and vehicles, military tactical training, and actual military assistance to conduct traditional law enforcement erodes civil liberties and encourages increasingly aggressive policing, particularly in poor neighborhoods and communities of color,” said Kara Dansky, senior counsel for the ACLU’s Center for Justice. “We’ve seen examples of this in several localities, but we don’t know the dimensions of the problem.”
The affiliates filed public records requests with local law enforcement agencies seeking information on the use of:
Special Weapons and Tactics teams, including:
Number and purpose of deployments
Types of weapons used during deployments
Injuries sustained by civilians during deployments
Training materials
Funding sources.
Cutting edge weapons and technologies, including:
GPS tracking devices
Unmanned aerial vehicles, or “drones”
Augmented detainee restraint, or “shock-cuffs”
Military weaponry, equipment, and vehicles obtained from or funded by federal agencies such as the Departments of Defense and/or Homeland Security.
Affiliates filed a second request with state National Guards seeking information regarding:
Cooperative agreements between local police departments and the National Guard counter-drug program.
Incidents of National Guard contact with civilians.
“The American people deserve to know how much our local police are using military weapons and tactics for everyday policing,” said Allie Bohm, ACLU advocacy and policy strategist. “The militarization of local police is a threat to Americans’ right to live without fear of military-style intervention in their daily lives, and we need to make sure these resources and tactics are deployed only with rigorous oversight and strong legal protections.”
The affiliates which filed public records requests are: Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Once the information has been collected and analyzed, if needed, the ACLU will use the results to recommend changes in law and policy governing the use of military tactics and technology in local law enforcement.
More information can be found here:
http://www.aclu.org/militarization
Thanks AP for posting the link