What should the police do when they receive a report of legal but apparently weird activity? 

Approach with caution but don’t overreact.

That’s not what happened in Scarsdale, New York.  In Scarsdale, a woman called the police to report that there was a man walking around in the woods with a knife.  Walking around the woods with a knife isn't a crime, but might be out of the ordinary and there's really not enough information to evaluate the situation.  You can't fault the police for checking it out. 

Still, the police should have anticipated that there were a number of possible innocent and not so innocent scenarios.  For example, every boy scout knows to carry his "10 Essentials" when going into he woods.  Essential Number 1 is a knife.  Other outdoor activities that involve knives are fishing, sailing and scuba diving.  It’s perfectly legal to carry and use a knife when walking through the woods.

How did the police respond? With guns drawn, they accosted the man, who politely introduced himself as Harry Zirlin.  In spite of the introduction, they made him walk towards them and the drawn guns and they then handcuffed him.

It turns out that he was a world renowned beetle collector and has published a number of books and articles.  He uses his knife to extract beetle specimens from tree bark.  There is no evidence at all that he was conducting himself in a threatening manner or posed any apparent hazard to himself or others.  Yet, he found himself handcuffed at gunpoint.  Furthermore, it appears there are a large numbers of people engaged in this behavior.  I didn't imagine it was a high risk activity.

There’s more to the story (you knew that).

Mr. Zirlin, aside from his accomplishments with beetles, is also an attorney. He filed a lawsuit in U.S. District court seeking an order changing the police approach to the scourge of knife wielding beetle collectors.

The trial judge found that the police had reasonable grounds to suspect that they were entering a hostile and dangerous situation, although it also concluded that Mr. Zirlin is a paradigm of a model citizen. Law.com reports that Mr. Zirlin lost on appeal, as well.

I hope the police re-evaluated their tactics as a result of this case, even if they won the lawsuit. I’d hate to see what they’d do with a whole troop of knife wielding boy scouts.

Posted by Joseph R. McFaul on Sunday, January 08, 2006 at 00:00 Comments Closed (0)

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