Ron Paul Slams Police Response In Boston

Former congressman Ron Paul slammed the police response to the Boston Marathon bombings. More specifically, the former presidential candidate was not a fan of the manhunt that ensued in the hours before alleged bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured.

The former GOP candidate and libertarian-leaning Paul called the event a “military-style takeover” of Boston, which happened on April 19 when Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick asked residents of Boston and some suburbs to “shelter in place.”

Ron Paul slammed the police in a post on the website of Lew Rockwell, a libertarian writer, saying:

“The Boston bombing provided the opportunity for the government to turn what should have been a police investigation into a military-style occupation of an American city.”

Paul added, “This unprecedented move should frighten us as much or more than the attack itself.” The former congressman’s sentiment was echoed by several others, who believed that the lockdown was going too far, even for the Boston bombing suspect. In the days since, Patrick defended the “shelter in place decision,” saying:

“I think we did what we should have done and were supposed to do with the always-imperfect information that you have at the time.”

In his post slamming the Boston police response, Ron Paul added that the three deaths were tragic, but that more than 40 people are killed in the United States each day. But those cities are not locked down. They are also not given the same “paramilitary police” treatment as Boston was.

And despite the assurances from Patrick, Ron Paul went on to say that the reaction was a violation of civil liberties. He pointed out that it was also unsuccessful, because Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was not spotted until a resident discovered him after the lockdown was lifted. Paul added:

“This is unprecedented and is very dangerous. We must educate ourselves and others about our precious civil liberties to ensure that we never accept demands that we give up our Constitution so that the government can pretend to protect us.”

Do you agree with Ron Paul’s decision to slam the Boston police response on April 19? Or were they doing what they felt was in the public’s best interest?

[Image via R. DeYoung]