Reluctant Deputies

This is an American story, but one that peaked my interest. It seems that Fed-Ex are kicking off with the US Government for creating new rules about parcel traffic and then insisting the carriers enforce them:

FedEx is suing the US government to escape the burden of policing packages [...] sent abroad [...]

The lawsuit, filed yesterday in US federal district court in Washington DC, seeks to prevent the Department of Commerce from enforcing prohibitions contained in the Export Administration Regulations ("EAR") against FedEx, specifically the Entity List.

It's unlawful for American companies to export goods or services to individuals or organizations on the Entity List without specific permission from the Commerce Department. FedEx is upset it has to check an unexpected large load of packages going out [...] overseas.

So the US Government has decided it's unlawful to send certain items to certain people abroad. They've then decided that it is far to difficult a rule for them to police and have put the burden on the carriers, who now are responsible for checking all packages to make sure no 'contraband' gets through. The parcel carriers have in effect, been deputised, without their consent

I'm glad that Fed-Ex are kicking up a stink about this, because it is happening all too often these days. Remember when the UK smoking ban came into force in 2007? Of course you do

We are told by the anti-smoker industry that the smoking ban was an unqualified success, because everyone followed it without the need for coercion, such as fines. It was simply, universally accepted, which can only mean that the general public were fully on board with it

What actually happened is something very similar to the issue Fed-Ex now face. The law did not simply say that you will be fined if you are caught smoking in a pub, it also said that the landlord or owner would also be fined for 'allowing' smoking to take place in the pub. And those fines are considerably higher than what a member of the public might expect

If the punishment was only targeted at the smoker, landlords who wanted to allow smoking could simply put up the no-smoking sign and then tell all the customers that they smoke at their own risk. Many would have decided to take that risk, myself included

The ban would have then had to be enforced by an army or officers visiting all pubs at all times of the day. That would have been just as unworkable as the FBI opening every parcel that leaves US soil

The solution was to make the pub owners enforce the ban themselves, like it or not

Done that way, it's no longer up to the punter to take the risk, as the landlord is taking a much bigger risk by allowing it, so would just refuse to serve anyone lighting up

There are 650 or so people in our Parliament, making our laws. 650 People cannot enforce all the laws on our books, so they need an army

The obvious army is the police, who are supposed to prevent criminal activity and bring those who commit crimes, before the courts
The second army is the tax collectors. When 650 people tell 40 million of us to hand over most of the money we earn, they need an awful lot of enforcers to make this work, or we would tell them to get stuffed. This army ranges from the inspectors at HMRC, to the old lady who works on the counter at the local council tax office. They're all instrumental in bringing in the tax the Government demands
The third army is the millions of jobsworths, inspectors and officers who work in the public sector, ensuring all the laws and statutes that govern everything we do in our daily lives, are strictly adhered to

But the more laws they make, the harder it is to enforce them and the more people they need to co-opt. This new approach, with the smoking ban here and Fed-Ex in the US, is to force people to enforce laws on their fellow citizens, through the threat of force against them

There is another law in some US states, where if someone takes or sells drugs on your property, the state can take your property, even if you had no knowledge of the crime

Laws are always expanding and it's likely that this method of enforcing them will expand too. There may come a day when we will be expected to inform if we see another person light up in the no smoking area, or if we see a fat person eating a pie

I hope Fed-Ex are successful, or else one day, we'll all be reluctant deputies