cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17908943
The law enforcement officer spent months methodically gathering evidence. He leafed through thousands of pages and highlighted key passages amid reams and reams of paper. He wore his body camera to record his interactions with witnesses and suspects. And he photographed what he saw as instruments of the alleged crime:
Books.
The targets of the investigation? Three school librarians in Granbury, Texas. The allegation? They had allowed children to access literature — such as “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison — that the officer, Scott London, a chief deputy constable, had deemed obscene.
In an extraordinary look into the ramifications of the right-wing backlash against books dealing with racism, gender, sex and sexuality, an 824-page investigative file obtained by NBC News and NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth shows how, for two years, London vigorously pursued felony charges against librarians in the Granbury Independent School District.
London secured subpoenas, filed public records requests, received names of students who’d checked out certain books and, after a year, wrote draft criminal complaints.
Those charges — distributing harmful material to a minor — were never filed. The investigation came to an end in June after Hood County District Attorney Ryan Sinclair turned down London’s request to indict the librarians, citing a lack of conclusive evidence to charge them with felonies.Sinclair declined to be interviewed and did not respond to written questions. London, who has ties to the anti-government constitutional sheriff’s movement and tried to launch a local chapter of the far-right Oath Keepers militia in 2020, did not respond to questions.
…
This is a message for the officer involved:
Scott London, you are a blight on humanity.
Who wants to press changes for a misuse of public funds for wasting everyone’s time and causing people trauma? This kind of person is a disgrace on more levels than I care to describe. He’s a jihadist. Treat him like he deserves, as a radical terrorist.
Do they not have actual crimes in Granbury? This is so much time and effort. I wish I could fuck around like this in my job.
And I’m sure all those resources wasted on his political antics and harassing the librarians who share information with the public and graciously perform other public services will get swept under the rug. I don’t need fucking fundigelicals deciding what my kids can and can’t read. That’s my job, and if I’ve done it well, they’ll do it out of genuine respect and trust instead of fear (which authoritarians like this asshole wouldn’t recognize or understand).
Would love to see a future president Harris crack down on this kind of vigilantism masquerading as public good.
ACAB.
There better not be a single unsolved crime in all of Granbury.
fucking pogues. garbage asshole ran for office on a platform of persecuting librarians. and lost.
