Tom Shales Quotes
You don't hear TV cops griping because they have to enforce some Draconian law that shouldn't be on the books in the first place, or lamenting vindictive excesses in sentencing. Hollywood, supposedly a frothing cauldron of liberalism, has always been conservative on crime.
Shales, Tom. "TV Cops: The Genre That Never Dies." The Washington Post, 23 Jul. 2010.
The United States is almost unique among nations in their respect. While there are Federal law enforcement officers, the number is very small. For example, the entire Federal Bureau of Investigation complement of agents is outnumbered by one of the three shifts of the New York City Police Department. The vast majority of the police officers in America are not even at the State level; it is at the local level.
He was one of the few “national security hawks” who was willing to place this issue in the public table. In the 21st Century, there were some Muslims living in Democratic countries who were or had just become radical Islamic extremist jihadist by religious belief and philosophy. Some would preach or advocate violence in terrorism against Democracy and the west. Many of these people with radical Islamic beliefs would give material aid and comfort to terrorists and some would themselves engage in terrorist activities themselves. When they did, it was too late to prevent tragedies. So there was this population of emotional and intellectual terrorists who could act on their beliefs at any moment. These are what Hayden referred to as the “not yet guilty”. Preventive detention could protect against serious terrorist attacks. But the legal system of virtually every democracy had no legal bases to incarcerate or move against anyone for his/her beliefs or speech. Criminal charges required action other than thoughts, beliefs or speech. But by waiting until there is terrorist action, the law enforcement authorities give up the ability to prevent the terrorist action. Some were advocating changes in this fundamental and traditional distinction of law enforcement.
As a Federal Judge, she was obligated to sentence people guilty of certain crimes to a minimum sentence prescribed by law and a sentencing commission.
Thomas William Shales is an American writer and critic of television programming and operations. He is best known as the television critic for The Washington Post, for which Shales received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1988. He also writes a column for the television news trade publication NewsPro, published by Crain Communications.
