Midway through a speech to the National Sheriffs’ Association yesterday, Sen. John McCain talked about money, says the Indianapolis Star. “When we formulate criminal justice policy, words of praise for the good work of local law enforcement are not enough,” he said. “We must give active support to officers of the peace across America, by providing the tools you need to meet new dangers.” Many tools are on display at the sheriffs’ convention.
Star columnist Matthew Tully commented that McCain’s views on crime are as shallow as Sen. Barack Obama’s: Crime is bad and I promise to throw money at the problem, but I really don’t have an expansive or innovative set of policy proposals so I’ll just say bad things about child molesters and terrorists and the Internet and hope that’s enough. Meanwhile, the scene at the convention center was fascinating, a police officer’s playground, displaying everything from night vision cameras to high-tech SWAT vehicles to rescue boats. “There’s a lot of pretty things in there,” Indianapolis Sheriff Frank Anderson said when I bumped into him. “The point is to focus on need instead of greed.”
Link: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080702/NEWS08/807020429/1304/LOCAL