the siren? it tolls for those in Lanesville

-spirit vs. letter of the law...
-tension between prosecuting "innocents" and failing to prosecute the guilty...
-theory vs. practice of government...
-theodicy and when should "god" intervene when people engage in "evil"-- and in particular, how we like the authorities to step and police others vs. ourselves...

so many principles in play-- in this small-town story about law enforcement gone (subjectively) awry...from Grace Schneider in the C-J...

Sharon Middleton was turning off Lanesville's main street, headed home after work, when a police officer pulled her over and issued a warning for a broken turn signal on her pickup.

It wasn't a big deal, Middleton said, but what struck her was that she couldn't remember ever being stopped by town police before, although she's lived in the area for decades.

“I didn't like it,” she said last week...Neither did most of Lanesville's 640 residents, judging from the slew of complaints about the number of citations being issued for infractions such as barely exceeding the 35 mph limit on Main Street and not flipping on a turn signal.

This year the number of citations has jumped to a level eight times higher than 2008, and calls for service on traffic stops and other police runs have more than doubled....

Not everyone is critical of Borden and his crew....“My suggestion to everyone is if you don't like our police department writing tickets then stop breaking the law!!” he wrote.

Homeowners complained about speeders on their streets a year ago, so they asked police to step up enforcement, Carman said....