Sharp Increase in Threats, Violence Against Census Workers
This should come as no surprise after the deranged anti-census agitation from people like Michele Bachmann, Glenn Beck, and redstate.com CEO Erick Erickson (who publicly threatened to use a shotgun on census workers): threats and violence against census workers this year have more than doubled compared to 2000.
So far, the Census Bureau has tallied 379 incidents involving assaults or threats on the nation’s 635,000 census workers, more than double the 181 recorded during the 2000 census. Weapons were used or threatened in a third of the cases.
Now, with just three weeks to go in the door-knocking phase of the count, the number of census takers has dwindled, and the remaining households are the toughest.
While most homeowners have received census takers graciously, some say they have been surprised at the degree of anger exhibited by Americans who consider them the embodiment of intrusive government.
“I came across loads of hostility,” said Douglas McDonald, who summoned police in Deltona, Fla., after a tug-of-war with an irate homeowner over a census form. The homeowner threw his ripped half in the toilet.
McDonald, 70, a District native who retired from the Labor Department after 30 years as an investigator, said he wasn’t prepared for the level of anti-government fervor he encountered.