tde4

"The job of the police is to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the general public.  To meet this responsibility, they obviously must not only prevent any activity that threatens the public but also anticipate such activity before it actually threatens.  Many police officials believe that the latter responsibility is moral justification for maintaining close surveillance of political action groups and for dispersing large groups of people listening to inflammatory political speeches.  Others disagree, claiming that this line of reasoning leads to the denial of the constitutional rights of freedom of speech and free assembly and to the establishment of a police state..."

Which position, if either, violates any of the required conditions of the Doctrine of Double Effect (DDE) discussed in Ethical Choices