Letter: We're on our way to a police state

New Jersey state police have moved one step closer to these Leninist tactics by recruiting hotel employees and managers to monitor the activities of hotel guests. According to the New York Times, arrests will be made off hotel property. No employee will be called to testify or be named in court documents. Hotel guests most closely scrutinized will be those requesting corner rooms, paying with cash, speaking Spanish or moving from room to room during their stay. A cash reward will be paid by police in the event of a conviction.

According to the Los Angeles Times, schools in Baton Rouge, La., Boulder, Colo., Albuquerque, N.M., and Charlotte, N.C., have been paying students for tips on questionable activities of fellow classmates. In a Portsmouth, N.H., high school this program is called "Scholastic Crimeline." North Carolina students use a hotline to inform authorities of questionable activities of fellow students. If tips pan out, police arrange a discreet location for payment to the informant.

With developments like these, along with a little more gun control and maybe another Waco, Texas, we should be able to look forward to a full-blown police state in the not-too-distant future. Vladimir Lenin would be pleased.

DOUG LOCKE

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