“This is not like Crime Stoppers, where people report crimes,” Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford said, referencing a reward-based system for solving crimes that allows anonymity.

The fine print, in tiny letters at the bottom:

It is important to remember that just because someone’s speech, actions, beliefs, appearance, or way of life is different, it does not mean that he or she is suspicious.

What they ask people to report:

• People drawing or measuring important buildings.
• Strangers asking questions about security or building security procedures.
• Briefcase, suitcase, backpack, or package left behind.
• Cars or trucks left in No Parking zones in front of important buildings.
• Intruders in secure areas where they are not supposed to be.
• Chemical smells or fumes that worry you.
• Questions about sensitive information such as building blueprints, security plans, or VIP travel schedules without a right or need to know.
• Purchasing supplies or equipment that can be used to make bombs or weapons;
• Purchasing uniforms without having the proper credentials.

The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security – Urban Area Security Initiative. How much grant money are the feds paying for this? $10 million in 2012.

Calling to inquire when a public official is coming to town is suspicious? Is buying peroxide for your hair suspicious? Is buying fertilizer for your lawn suspicious? Is an architecture student drawing a building suspicious? To the public who reads this stuff, the answer is likely going to depend on whether they view the person as someone whose speech, actions, beliefs, appearance, or way of life is different -- a foreigner -- which is exactly what they are told not to take into consideration. Does anyone believe someone would report a blonde haired woman buying peroxide at a beauty supply store or a blonde male buying fertilizer at the garden store or a blonde student drawing pictures of a building?

This is just another profiling program, giving people a heads-up on how to report people who are "different" based on their ethnicity -- just attach an activity to it that if engaged in by anyone else would have gone unnoticed.

A better idea: