Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the Schutzstaffel commonly used civil asset forfeiture and propaganda to control the German population. Now, in 2019, a New Hampshire police department has announced that they will soon begin a program that uses money from civil asset forfeiture to fund a propaganda campaign.
On Friday, April 26th, The Union Leader reported that the Salem Police Department has contracted with the John Guilfoil Public Relations firm. The goal of the contract would be to “to supplement and augment the department’s communication with the public, in the hopes of making it more effective and efficient.”, according to the firm’s owner.
Civil Asset Forfeiture: Legalized Theft
As we have mentioned in past articles, police in the US can steal your property at almost any time. More disturbing, they do not need to convict you before doing so. This means that citizens who are ultimately found innocent can be robbed of their car, money, house, guns, or any other property the cops might desire, and they may never get their property back. Police can seize property without even charging a person with a crime. This seizure and government propaganda go hand in hand.
Government Propaganda
To effectively control and manipulate a citizenry, governments have historically utilized propaganda to convince people that they are free, despite crushing laws and unfair policies like asset forfeiture. The Salem government/police department, which seeks to control a citizenry of 30,000 people in southern New Hampshire has some good reasons to hire a PR firm. They now seem anxious that the public may begin to lose faith in them as they realize that modern police are corrupt, evil, violent, and are not even legally obligated to protect people. “The department has been the subject of less favorable headlines since the release of a critical audit report last November, which outlined a mismanaged internal investigations program, payroll issues and a culture of insubordination to town authority.”, says the article.
The UL article states that the money for the PR contract will not be paid for with taxes. Instead, the department will pay for the propaganda with funds from civil asset forfeiture. Essentially, they already stole money from a few people, so they will not have to steal additional money from the general public to fund this new contract. Is one type of theft better than the other?
Police departments in New Hampshire paying public relations firms with stolen money is not new, the John Guilfoil Public Relations firm also helps the Rochester and Bedford police appear more amicable, despite their many missteps. The firm has also worked with Exeter, Portsmouth and Moultonborough police. Twenty town governments in New Hampshire have worked with the JGPR firm.
Vital to a civilized and peaceful society is the respect of property rights among all humans and the lack of violence and theft. When one group steals property from peaceful people and then uses that property to brainwash their victims into a Stockholm state, our society becomes less cooperative and more coercive and immoral. Who will protect us when those we trusted to protect us become our greatest threat?
