"McCarty: Military needs victim advocates, Marine's lawyers tells Congress"

The article "McCarty: Military needs victim advocates, Marine's lawyers tells Congress" by Mary McCarty can be found in the stateman.com. After reading about the murder of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach it is clear that their is a need for victim advocates in the military. Lance Cpl. Lauterbach did what she was suppose to have done when filing her complaint that she had been raped by a fellow Marine. But even after doing so, it was reported that she had been met with skepticism, outright disbelief, by her supervisors and met with harrasement by her fellow male Marines. Her six months nightmare ended when she was murdered and buried in a shallow fire pit by a fellow Marine. We have to ask ourselves, where were the victim advocates when this marine was sexually assaulted and needed the support and protection.
In Lauderbach's case, her victim advocate was her direct supervisor who was not proactive nor was independent. The victim advocate system is a system where soliders are more concerned about their own promotions and following their commanders orders, rather than doing what is right. It makes me wonder how many other victims like Lance Cpl. Lauderbach have been denied the help and proctection by victim advocates while they were serving in the military. It is a shame that not only do these soldiers have to be concerned with the safety of their lives in war but also whether they will be sexually assaulted while serving their country. I believe that we should take the necessary steps in hiring civilians as victim advocates that are independent with the experience and education needed to do the job right. Victim advocates who are knowledgeable in military law and where promotions do not interfere with their judgments on making the right decision, protecting victims of sexual assault and filing their complaints.

Spy camera won't make us safer

The following news article can be found at CNN.com. The article “Spy cameras won’t make us safer”, is written by Bruce Schneier. Bruce Schneier is a security technologist and the author of “Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly About Security in an Uncertain World”. The author makes and argument that for the most part, cameras do not make us safer. On January 19, it was reported that a team of 15 people assassinated Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. The Dubai police released video footage of 11 of them that were caught on tape. These members walked into airports, checked in and out of hotels, get in and out of taxis. They made not attempt to hide their identities from the cameras and even looked as though they were staring directly at them. This is only one example that is made that cameras did not stop this assassination from occurring, and as of yet don’t know if it will help identify the killers. The author goes as far as to inform us that pervasive security cameras do not substantially reduce crime which has been proven in San Francisco, California, public housing; in a New York apartment complex; in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; in Washington; in study after study in both the U.S. and the U.K. And they are not instrumental in solving many crimes after the fact. We the citizens see that every day in the news media when a person has been abducted or robbed which has been recorded on video but the surveillance tapes are so bad that you can’t even identify the person and the media and/or police are asking for our help in identifying the person or persons. See http://www.aclu.org/images/asset_upload_file708_35775.pdf I agree with this author that cameras do not deter crimes nor for the most part do they solve most crimes. I believe that our tax money is better spent on hiring and training more police officers on the streets in protecting citizens from crime and prevent crime from occuring.