​Public safety in question

Fargo was in a bit of an uproar this week after a man was allegedly caught taking pictures of kids swimming at Island Park Pool. While he can’t be criminally charged, he was promptly banned by the Fargo Park District from all city parks. Also, Police identified the man and cited him for pot possession.

Much debate ensued on social media about the rights of the swimmers and the freedom of speech rights of the photographer. While it’s important for everyone involved to follow the law, it’s hard to feel much sympathy for a character such as this. Apparently he was pretending to smoke and snapping pictures through an opening in the pool while he thought no one was looking. No one’s rights should be violated because they are a creep but be prepared to face the consequences of anything that can happen to you -- such as bans from private or public property if you do so.

More transparency please, Fargo PD

Two recent murders in north Fargo have some questioning why Fargo police didn’t classify the suspect Ashley Hunter as dangerous to the public after he committed the first murder and was the subject of a manhunt. While police have to finish the investigation and make sure the suspect is convicted, it is also important for them to explain why Hunter, who reportedly stabbed his first victim 50 times, wasn’t classified as more of a threat so that people wouldn’t open their doors to such a man. No need to unnecessarily scare the public whenever possible, but it is necessary to be honest with citizens and to make sure that something that could be prevented doesn’t happen. Sometimes things aren’t always as black and white as they seem but a lot of people are outraged about this. Police need to clear up public safety questions sooner rather than later.

Policing off campus?

A recent North Dakota Supreme Court ruling states that NDSU and Fargo PD need to be clearer about the jurisdiction of campus police and not operate off campus. It’s important for everyone involved to get it right moving forward. ND House Majority Leader Al Carlson has asked Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem for clarification on the ruling. While NDSU officials state they’ve done nothing wrong, the Supreme Court ruled against them and attorneys in the case say it’s clear that NDSU officials broke the law. While law enforcement has a tendency to operate wherever they please, with this ruling, however, they need to make things right and follow the law moving forward.

Keeping an eye on Bernie Sanders

The presidential sweepstakes for 2016 have started to heat up with several candidates announcing they are joining the race. We’ve been keeping an eye on insurgent outsider candidate Bernie Sanders, the Vermont socialist running for the Democratic nomination, who seems to have a real understanding of the economic disparities in this country.

While Hillary Clinton is the obvious establishment candidate with a lot of money and power behind her, Sanders has had an impressive start, raising more money than many thought he would and drawing crowds of thousands in places like Madison, Wis. and Minneapolis. The excitement he brings isn’t something we’ve seen with the Clinton campaign, who many feel will not bring much change to the system and whom had her race for President thwarted by another upstart candidate Barack Obama in 2008. While many times, these nominations go to people who’ve earned it or paid their dues, I think a lot of the rank and file in the parties are tired of getting burned by broken promises after someone takes office and they are wanting a candidate who can bring real change to the system and not lie about doing so in order to take power.

On the Republican side, candidates have been making one embarrassing comment after another from their field of candidates, including frontrunner Jeb Bush who said Americans need to work more hours. Also, a scary prospect is the fact that Donald Trump is polling well in the field despite a rocky start to his campaign complete with racist statements about illegal immigrants. Less scary is the fact that once these jokers get the nomination and make mistakes on a wider scale, such as what happened to Mitt Romney, it will become clear to a majority of Americans that they shouldn’t be elected President.