Oh, lovely.
Part of the new Patriot Act expands the powers (and geographic scope) of the Uniformed Division of the Secret Service. Buried in the legalise of the document contains these nifty bits:
make arrests without warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence, or for any felony cognizable under the laws of the United States if they have reasonable grounds to believe that the person to be arrested has committed or is committing such felony;
Thats “reasonable ground” which courts have ruled is not as an exacting as “probable cause”.
This would be a national police force. Which is something our country hasn’t required up to now. Remember those images from New Orleans of troops in the streets?
Ok, just checking.
