N. Dakota: Police Twarted by Food Stamp Law

Police had to waste months of man hours tracking a thief down that should have only taken a few days, thanks to the hypersensitivity of those who collect government assistance:

John Schweitzer swiped his credit card, bagged his groceries and walked out of a Wal-Mart without his wallet. When he returned a moment later, it was gone.

Schweitzer's misfortune should have been an open-and-shut legal case. The thief was caught on video surveillance, and he used his own food stamp swipe card to pay for groceries before leaving with Schweitzer's wallet.

But a federal law prohibiting the disclosure of information about food stamp recipients - even to law enforcement, unless a specific name is provided - meant it would take months and a lot of legwork before an arrest was made.

What is the point of keeping the name of a criminal away from the police?

Again liberal thinking ends up wasting money that had no business being wasted.