Census Worker Finally Arrested For Trespass

A Census worker in Hawaii was arrest for trespass after a homeowner told the census worker to leave and they would not. The homeowner is a county police officer and he called his office to send someone out to Arrest the worker:

It's the latest example of disputes this year between Census workers protected by federal law and residents who don't want to deal with them.

The Census worker, Russell Haas, found trouble on Hawaii's Big Island on March 20 when a resident refused to accept Census forms and told Haas to leave his fenced property.

Then the resident, a county police officer, called his co-workers at the Hawaii County Police Department. Haas was then arrested.

Census workers have met more hostility than they did in the last count. The agency tallied 436 incidents involving assaults or threats through June 29, more than double the 181 incidents in 2000. 

I have to say I am not surprised and I am happy this has happened and it may challenge the federal worker's authority, BUT, I have to say it comes from a favoritism of sorts in that a police officer was the property owner in question and points to special treatment. We've published cases here where some people were not so lucky in their hostile response to census workers and in some cases were shot and killed by local police. My bet is that it will be thrown out as judges are not likely to challenge federal jurisdiction, particularly in Obama's home state and during his administration. Still, if this isn't a case that cries for universal castle doctrine in this country, I don't know what is. No one has the right to come on your property without your permission, and that includes government and police. And if they are asked to leave, they should.

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