The Public Duty Doctrine.4: The Wall of Shame

"Government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any particular citizen, but, rather, duty to provide public services is owed to the public at large, and, absent special relationship between police and individual, no specific legal duty exists."

Warren v. District of Columbia
444A. 2d 1 (D.C. Appeals) 1981

Since 1989, I have written and spoken with "collateral agents" and "governmental agents" at all levels concerning pre-victimization and post-victimization needs of American citizens. The citizenry needs to be educated at the earliest possible time about their legal relationship with their government, and they need to be reminded, after the fact (such as a crime), what that relationship is. Early on, my concern was mainly with crime victims and revictimization caused by the criminal justice system. As time went on, I realized that this failure of our government to disclose the truth ran deeper.

This is a representative sampling of either those I have communicated with or items of special attention:

The North Carolina Victim Bill of Rights (Article 45 - 15A-824 thru -825), Rape Crisis Center (Buncombe County), Gene Rainey-then Chairman Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, Department of Justice - State of North Carolina (then Attorney General, Lacy Thornburg), Police Chief Beavers of the Asheville Police Department, then N.C. Governor Jim Martin, National Victim Center, N.C. Council on the Status of Women, Asheville Citizens for Responsive Government, Courtwatch, People Assisting Victims of N.C., National Organization of Women (NOW), Legal Defense and Education Fund (NOW), NC State Representatives and Senators, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, National Victim Center, Bob Etheridge - then NC Superintendant of Public Instruction, 60 Minutes, Gerry L. Spence, Esq. (his office), MADD, The Asheville Citizen-Times (editorial staff), WLOS-TV Asheville, the present Mayor of Asheville NC, a present-serving Asheville City Councilman, the National Rifle Association, Presidential candidate, then-Senator Obama (2008), and then-Senator Joe Biden (Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, letter from him dated August 17, 1990).

Get the picture?