Thanks to Carlos Miller for uncovering this story about Keene PD’s Sgt. and prosecutor Eli Rivera. As you can see in the article, Rivera’s license plate says “PEACE”. However, in his job as prosecutor he regularly destroys the peaceful lives of individuals who have not harmed another person or their property. The article also says he has worked “to ensure law enforcement was viewed as a partner, not an adversary.” If police were our partners, for example, our friends and family members would not be being imprisoned for possessing plant matter or other chemicals. Drivers would be allowed to use their good judgment instead of being harassed and ticketed for speeding or not coming to a complete stop. People would be free to live their lives as they wish as long as they don’t harm others. The voluntary society wouldn’t be utopia, but there would be a lot more peace than there is today, where the police are the adversary of freedom. They could choose to behave differently. In private conversations some have admitted they would like to do the right thing, but they are scared they might lose their jobs, because those higher ranking than them are not interested in peace. They want more conflict, because conflict fills their jails and prisons and fills state coffers with fines extracted mostly from lower-income victims of the oppressive police state.
In the interests of promoting peace, I invited Rivera out for coffee and he accepted. Then, he canceled and never rescheduled. When I recently encountered him in person and asked when he’d let me take him out, he said “When all of this is over”, referring to the prosecutions of liberty activists here in Keene.
Eli, please stop prosecuting peaceful people. That would make Keene the most peaceful place on earth, and the police would start getting respect from people again, since they would only be going after people who do harm. Doesn’t that make sense?
UPDATE: More about Eli here on JailedActivist.info
