Balancing the rights of individuals and of the public

Superman’s mission is to fight for “Truth, Justice and the American Way.” That battle – for ordinary citizens and public servants who lack superpowers, working together – is tough. It’s difficult to define, then difficult to carry out. In just the past week we’ve encountered these problems and, thankfully, some solutions.

● Saturday, two Baltimore police officers were wounded while responding to a domestic-violence report. The suspect, who also was shot, has a long criminal record. It includes convictions on drug charges and several dismissals for violent acts.

● Baltimore police took away three kids – 7, 8 and 11 years old – in handcuffs after a neighbor says he caught them stealing from his yard. When he chased one of them home, the boy confessed. Then the man called 911. The mothers of two of the boys told WBAL-TV that hauling their sons in handcuffs to juvenile detention for two hours was excessive. The police department says its officers correctly followed procedures. The boys weren’t charged.

● Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested Thursday afternoon while trying to get into his house after an overseas trip. The door was jammed, perhaps from an attempted break-in. When Cambridge, Mass., police arrived, Gates accused them of racial profiling. He was arrested despite showing them his license and Harvard ID. The charges have since been dropped. Gates is not the first black scholar at Harvard to have a run-in over demands for identification by suspicious police.

● Last week, a second Baltimore man was sentenced to multiple life terms in prison in the murder of Carl Stanley Lackl. According to court documents and testimony, a suspect in a murder that Lackl saw arranged the hit from jail using a contraband cell phone so that Lackl couldn’t testify against him.

● Baltimore’s U.S. Attorney’s Office announced creation of an annual award named for Carl Lackl to honor a victim or witness who shows bravery and perseverance. Margaret Shipley, Lackl’s mother, received the first award.

● A report says Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents “forced their way into homes without judicial warrants, arrested hundreds without any legal basis and committed widespread constitutional violations in New York and New Jersey, according to Newsday. Two-thirds of these arrests made under the National Fugitive Operations Program were not of targeted individuals but of undocumented immigrants with no criminal records. The program was created to stop national security threats.

● The New York Times is running a series about the dangers of driving while using cell phones.   Researchers have compared talking on the phone to driving with a 0.08 blood-alcohol level – which would get you a DUI charge in many states. Scientists also likened efforts to get their findings acknowledged to what predecessors went through in warning about tobacco decades ago. For instance, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration chose not to release one study out of fear of Congress.

● According to The Sun, the Maryland Transit Administration has dropped a proposal to use listening devices to record conversations on buses and trains, out of concern about privacy. Some cities in the U.S. have such systems. The Maryland Politics Watch blog had reported that the MTA had asked the Attorney General’s Office for an opinion.

● How’s this for irony: Amazon.com remotely erased copies of two books ― George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and “1984” ― from customers’ Kindle devices. The explanation: The company didn’t have the rights to the books, but it apologized for the clumsy way it handled the problem.

● On July 29, the Baltimore-area chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness will hold its annual meeting and awards dinner. NAMI will honor Bette Stewart, Lois Feinblatt, Baltimore Deputy Police Commissioner Deborah Owens and Baltimore County Police Lt. Stephen Gossage.

● NAMI reminds us that the first full week of October is National Mental Health Awareness Week. In preparation the organization is holding meetings Aug. 6 and Aug. 11. Also, registration has begun for this fall’s Family-to-Family courses.

The struggle to find a balance between individuals’ rights and what’s best for our society continues. That’s the American Way, right?