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Police Militarization: It's Gone Too Far
Political Realities ^ | 08/28/13 | Charles M. Phipps

Posted on 08/28/2013 3:28:22 AM PDT by LD Jackson

Police Militarization

I have been noticing a disturbing trend lately. More and more news reports have been about similar incidents.

These are but a few of many, many examples available of botched police raids in the last few years. Property damage, family pets killed, wrongful deaths and injuries and just sheer terror are the byproducts of these raids. Of all the reports and news articles I have read about these raids I found only one where an officer was held accountable for killing someone and his trial ended with an acquittal. In many instances the homeowners had to pay for property damages themselves.

Imagine being a law-abiding citizen, as I'm sure everyone who reads my blog is, sitting in your home with your family one evening when your front door is smashed in. Flash bangs start exploding in your home, men in black paramilitary uniforms rush in, all wearing masks, helmets and carrying machine guns. Your dog barks so it is shot to death. You and your family are all screamed at by all these men to GET ON THE FLOOR. You comply, you and your family are handcuffed and while you are all kept on the floor these men start ransacking your home. After an hour or two they realize, oops, we are at the wrong address. You and your family have the handcuffs removed, the men say they are sorry about the trouble and leave.

I'm sure no one wants this to happen to them, but it has happened to many families and it will continue to happen. In 2005, the last year for which I could find data, there were more than 50,000 raids conducted by SWAT-like police units. With this many raids being conducted every year there are most certainly going to be some that are botched.

To be crystal clear, I am not anti-police. I have no axe to grind. The few interactions I've had with law enforcement personnel have always been pleasant and professional. The police in my hometown of Midwest City, Oklahoma are consummate professionals and I am grateful they are there. Midwest City, by the way, has had a SWAT team since 1976. All large cities in the United States have one or more SWAT teams and as of 2005, 80% of towns with a population of at least 25,000 have a SWAT team.

I have come to believe this trend toward militarizing the police has gone too far. Especially when it appears they are allowed to operate with no accountability for errors. I'm sure most law enforcement personnel would say "whatever gets me home" to justify the tactics but when SWAT teams are used for things like raiding poker games at a VFW they have gone too far. A first person account of a SWAT raid at a Dallas poker game is an interesting tale of wasted time and resources that apparently produced nothing in the end. Is a poker game really a place the police think they will need flash bangs and automatic weapons?

Radley Balko, a former policy analyst for the Cato Institute, has written a paper called Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids In America. Just reading a few pages of police misconduct on raids incensed me. While the vast majority of police are good and decent public servants, the ones who are not seem to find their way onto these SWAT teams, sometimes with disastrous consequences. Balko has put together a map (see below) of botched raids over the last few years.

Police Raid MapThe botched raids and innocent citizens getting hurt will continue until people decide something needs to be done about it. Perhaps it might take a raid at a politician's house or someone important getting killed before something is done. But until that happens, be careful. The men breaking into your home just might be the police at the wrong address.


TOPICS: Politics
KEYWORDS: police; swat
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1 posted on 08/28/2013 3:28:22 AM PDT by LD Jackson
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To: LD Jackson
  1. "you want them to go home to their families at night don't you?"
  2. "They were just following orders."
  3. "He committed suicide by cop."
  4. "He didn't do what they told him to do. What do you expect?"
  5. And of course my favorite, "We don't know the whole story."
Do I really need the sarcasm tag? Come on down FR boot lickers. Take one last lick on the jackboots and defend your heroes.
2 posted on 08/28/2013 3:56:07 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: LD Jackson

The level of violence recently displayed by police suggests to me that they may be using steroids.


3 posted on 08/28/2013 4:13:54 AM PDT by Mister Da (The mark of a wise man is not what he knows, but what he knows he doesn't know!)
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To: LD Jackson

My son was visiting friends across the street from his house when bounty hunters, accompanied by local police, broke down his door and stormed in, looking for someone at another address. I am very glad he was across the street. If he had been home, someone would have died in the course of this officially sanctioned home invasion because my son would have opened fire.


4 posted on 08/28/2013 4:20:09 AM PDT by Pecos (Kritarchy: government by the judges)
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To: LD Jackson

And people wonder why there are cop haters?


5 posted on 08/28/2013 4:24:47 AM PDT by caver (Obama: Home of the Whopper)
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To: LD Jackson
It has gone too far and it's too late to do anything about it. 20 years ago this could have been stopped but we're way past the point of no return now. Blame rests squarely with the law and order drug warriors. If there was no drug war you would have the "good guys" wearing black ski masks, lobbing explosives into homes at 4:00 AM, charging in with a dozen of their roided out buddies, killing the house pets and holding women and children at the business end of a sub machine gun.

When (not if) these paramilitary goons come for the law and order types they will be getting everything they deserve. I tried to warn these people until I was blue in the face that these goon squads were just practicing on the potheads and their turn was coming. I'm through warning and I'm going to just get ready to hand out heaping helpings of "I told you so."

6 posted on 08/28/2013 4:33:28 AM PDT by Orangedog (An optimist is someone who tells you to 'cheer up' when things are going his way)
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To: LD Jackson

Its all about “officer safety”.

That’s all that matters.

How in the hell do you admit to blindly shooting into a room, killing a woman and injuring a baby, and get away with it?

This is despicable. I am a cop. And hearing this stuff makes me sick.


7 posted on 08/28/2013 4:33:32 AM PDT by qaz123
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To: LD Jackson
To paraphrase Joe Biden:

"One word - Watertown, Massachusetts"

Truly disgusting

Boston Strong, my a$$

Cowering Moonbats is more like it.

8 posted on 08/28/2013 4:39:14 AM PDT by LurkingSince1943 (Former War Criminal)
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To: LD Jackson

http://www.mastersecuritydoors.com/


9 posted on 08/28/2013 4:46:35 AM PDT by agere_contra (I once saw a movie where only the police and military had guns. It was called 'Schindler's List'.)
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To: Orangedog

” Blame rests squarely with the law and order drug warriors.”

I’m not really sure of the true genesis of the drug war. Was it to bring about the militarization of law enforcement in this country or was it about getting re-elected or was it just to grab more funding for bureaucrats (Henry J. Anslinger anyone)? You start a crusade, wrap it in the flag and turn it into a semi-religion. Perfect.


10 posted on 08/28/2013 5:23:29 AM PDT by dljordan (WhoVoltaire: "To find out who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.")
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To: Mister Da
The level of violence recently displayed by police suggests to me that they may be using steroids.

I can personally confirm that steroid use is rampant in law enforcement, esp. in bigger cities. The departments do not test for them in drug screenings, and since it's more or less an old boys' club, they're not going to rat on one another.

When you have undereducated, roid raging warrior-wannabes with automatic weapons and ninja suits running around middle-class neighborhoods with tanks and flashbangs, you have a recipe for disaster. And since the fraternity of law enforcement is so tight, not a single one of them would snitch or dish info on any of their comrades. This makes for a completely unaccountable organization of thugs that operate on the gray lines and fringes of the law in the name of "public safety."

These SWAT meatheads blast heavy metal music through their heads before a raid in the same way a lineman gets ready for big game. And don't get me wrong, I love metal and was a lineman in college, but I have absolutely no aspirations to go running into a private home to execute a warrant; and even if I did, I'd make good and God damn sure that the address we were raiding matched the one on the warrant.

There will come a day of reckoning for these men.

11 posted on 08/28/2013 5:26:34 AM PDT by rarestia (It's time to water the Tree of Liberty.)
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To: LD Jackson

Spring 2005, outside on the property boundary between my place and an adjacent field, hitting golf balls into the open field (early spring ritual)- A “concerned” neighbor calls police to report me for disturbing the ecosystem of a wetland (patch of cattails to my far left)...

Three fully equipped officers of the law in two patrol cars were dispatched to the scene because the caller expressed fear for his life (golf club-waving, yelling, etc.). The caller recorded my voice (profanity, etc.) and took pictures of me and my golf clubs, balls,, etc.

The boys looked a little silly as they convened. The first one to speak to me was kind of ‘uppity’ in his demeanor, which his two partners immediately began to emulate.

One cop, who I’m certain was young enough to be my son, quoted the complainant as saying that my golf swing sucked. Then, another eager beaver stated (for the record) that he’d heard the playback of the caller’s tape “verbatim” while giving me a stern look of disapproval.

I had to explain that I’d been doing that for three or four years and that I always go out there to retrieve as many balls as I can to reuse them the next year for the same thing but the neighbor didn’t want to listen to that as he punched in the numbers to call the police.

In fact, I had found all of the balls I was hitting during initial walks through the field. Only I knew that somebody else had left them there several years before. I actually had to dig most of the out of the ground, clean them up, etc. before I ever used them myself.

No ticket, not even a warning...just a bunch of cops “making a difference” in our wonderful community. The pictures taken by the neighbor were “released” to the custody of the property manager but I later retrieved them from my permanent records as a tenant...The neighbor has long since moved out and I still get a big kick out of those photos!


12 posted on 08/28/2013 5:28:32 AM PDT by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: qaz123
You and me both, brother. as a firearms instructor some of the things I hear about on these cluster (bleep)s makes me wonder about the current status on inservice training for some of these agencies.

CC

13 posted on 08/28/2013 5:43:36 AM PDT by Celtic Conservative (tease not the dragon for thou art crunchy when roasted and taste good with ketchup)
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To: caver

Recently in a small city in eastern Washington the local PD SWAT raided a home that was a suspected gang house in broad daight causing the neighbors to come out and see what was going on. One young man pulled out his cell phone and started taking video. One of the SWAT guys sees this and confronts him. Tells him it is illegal to film him and if he continues he will be arrested. The guy complied but continue to question the illegality of filming and he was arrested. By the time it went to court the charge was changed to obstruction for entering in to the cordoned off area.

Sound pretty legit except he was the only one arrested and was surrounded by his other neighbors who were not even warned to move back. The case was eventually dropped because as the Deputy Chief claims the area was not well defined. The problem is the SWAT officer never tells the guy to move back, etc, only that he will be arrested for taping the action.

Classic example of changing the story to fit the law as they see necessary for officer protection. It can be found here: www.dailysunnews.com
Just type in Swat in the search area. Has the whole video if the episode.


14 posted on 08/28/2013 6:16:13 AM PDT by shotgun
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To: LD Jackson

We’ve been warned since 1968 of the militarization of the police. The Leftists have always wanted a federal police force, so they have settled for the next best thing.


15 posted on 08/28/2013 6:46:01 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Sometimes you need 7+ more ammo. LOTS MORE.)
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To: LD Jackson

SEAL Team wannabees. It’s easy when your “battle space” is just one house five minutes from the office and populated mostly with unarmed and unsuspecting civilians.


16 posted on 08/28/2013 7:12:16 AM PDT by CPOSharky ((The government way) If it ain't broke, fix it till it is.)
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To: shotgun

I believe it. I guess the guy will the video camera was lucky he didn’t get shot.


17 posted on 08/28/2013 7:32:53 AM PDT by caver (Obama: Home of the Whopper)
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To: equaviator

This:

Indiana First State to Allow Citizens to Shoot Law Enforcement Officers
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2894330/posts

Not that it will help much, but it’s a sign that some people see the problem.


18 posted on 08/28/2013 12:18:37 PM PDT by ltdan08
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To: ltdan08

Too bad it doesn’t apply to overly zealous and nosy neighbors.


19 posted on 08/28/2013 1:11:22 PM PDT by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: LD Jackson

Under Obama, they are misusing the military. He was trying to be a isolationist and a anti-military guy in his first term, but now since 2011 he is into using them. But at the same time is trying to destroy the troops from within. He wants pro-Obama/ progressive troops basically. And now he has began dragging McCain and his establishment clan along with him. McCain used to blast Obama’s foreign policy. Now he is agreeing with him more and more.

Under Bush, the mission was clearer and the objectives were set. We have to eradicate islamofascists. But it started getting mruky around 2007-2008. Obama then came with the goal to mess it up and confuse people about which side of the fence to be on. In favor of military use or against it. Worried about surveillance polices or in favor of them to catch the bad guys. Obama is not a good guy or pro-American so he is using the military to do whatever he damn feels like it.

He has been all over the map himself. So he is playing a cruel joke on America. The goal is to destroy the military.


20 posted on 08/28/2013 3:45:40 PM PDT by Mozilla
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