Phony fed cleans up 'meth capital'

It's the ultimate Hollywood story.

A vigilante swoops into a crooked town and cleans house.

Think Dirty Harry. Think Death Wish (I through V).

Think ... Sergeant Bill?

You may not have heard of him, but the good people of Gerald, Mo., a town of 1,171 an hour outside of St. Louis, surely have.

Today's New York Times has the story of Bill A. Jakob, who, claiming to be a federal agent, started busting into people's home in the dead of night, without a warrant, and hauling them out in cuffs.

By its mayor's own admission, Gerald has a pretty bad meth problem.

Sgt. Bill was its solution -- except he's no more an officer of the law than I am.

Now, the town has a mess on its hands. Cops have been fired. Arrests are in doubt.

And a batch of civil rights lawsuits are headed down the pike.

The question for you, Sarge, is do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

Comments

[Shakespeare]

Do you laugh or do you cry? That is the question. Is Sarge a hero or a criminal, too?
well, we know that he was not authrized to do what he did. However, you'd think some consideration ought to be given him because he not only cared, he had an action plan. At least, now we know who some of the drug dealers are and can keep an eye on them. What about statutes regarding citizens making arrest, will any of them apply here? Sarge going free and the drug dealers going to jail sounds like poetic justice to me.