Boston police, idiots?

I'm a little late on this, but better late than never...

First, I have to say that I respect all officers of the law. They do a job that I don't want to do. It's dangerous and probably doesn't pay all that well. That being said, on with the show.

Two times in the last month or so, I've seen news reports on particularly retarded behavior undertaken by the police. And perhaps not coincidentally, both have taken place in the greater Boston area.

The first absurd course of action was taken when Boston police departments got reports of blinking devices around the city. These devices were, as you might know, some sort of light-bright boxes designed to promote the new Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. Granted, not all citizens are familiar with the Moonenites and apparently, some people thought these might be BOMBS. Including the police. Now, maybe it's just me, but if I'm a terrorist and I want to bomb something, I would not put lighted characters giving the middle finger on my bomb. Seems like that might attention; you know, ruin the surprise. In the end, the Boston Police Department did what any rational person would do. They BLEW UP the devices. What? Don't you have some sort of bomb detecting dogs or monitors? Couldn't your bomb squad look at the device while putting their own explosives on it and determine "uh, yup, that's just some batteries and lights." The same devices were places in other cities, NY, LA, Dallas, Chicago, etc. and only Boston felt the need to blow them up.

So imagine my surprise when a month later I read this headline, "Police blow up foul-mouthed CD's that blared in church." Where, you ask? Why Boston, of course. Are you kidding? Apparently CD-players taped to the bottom of church pews began playing pornographic messages during mass. While this might be offensive (or funny) Boston police also felt it was a blow-uppable offense. "The bomb squad blew up two players outside and kept the third one to test for fingerprints or DNA and trace its components," said police Capt. Gary Johnson. Again my question is, can't you determine if something is a bomb without blowing it up? I mean, I know blowing shit up is cool, but you're not ten years old anymore.

I guess in the end the moral of the story is this. Do not wear or carry any sort of electronic device around Boston. If someone calls the police and says your iPod was flashing, there's a good chance the police might have to blow you up.

Good luck, Boston.