Reading the Tea Leaves in Johnson County

Steyn Online ^ | March 27 2014 | Mark Steyn

[wildbill]

~On the other hand, tea-wise, the Johnson County Sheriff's Department is taking it to a whole other level. Two years ago, at 7.30 one April morning, a sleepy Bob Harte staggered to the front door of his home in Leawood, Kansas to answer a knock and found a fully-armed SWAT team outside preparing to use the battering ram. They shoved him to the floor, surrounded him with pointing rifles, and the whole rigmarole began...

On the other hand, at least the Hartes and their kids are still alive. I've written often about the increasing tendency of American cops to police the citizenry to death - the five-to-seven officers required to kill a 95-year old veteran for refusing to take his medication; the multiple law-enforcement agencies needed to off a confused woman with a baby on board who drove too near King Barack's palace - and who earned the cheers of Congress for so dispatching her. In recent days, a mentally ill homeless man was shot dead for "illegally camping" in the Albuquerque foothills, and at a traffic stop in South Carolina a 70-year old veteran was shot by an officer who thought the man was reaching for a gun. It was his cane.

[wildbill]

This kind of police state crap is increasing all the time and it is fueled by government supposed need for swat teams at every level.

[yldstrk]

Judas effing priest

I live in a police state

[Jack Hydrazine]

The United States of SWAT?
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/376053/united-states-swat-john-fund

“Since 9/11, the feds have issued a plethora of homeland-security grants that encourage local police departments to buy surplus military hardware and form their own SWAT units. By 2005, at least 80 percent of towns with a population between 25,000 and 50,000 people had their own SWAT team. The number of raids conducted by local police SWAT teams has gone from 3,000 a year in the 1980s to over 50,000 a year today.”

[Jack Hydrazine]

America has the highest per capita amount of law enforcement officers in the world.

[stickywillie]

Black on black crime is @ insane levels, and the police go after the law abiding citizens

[Mycroft Holmes]

Cop beats up model Air Force captain in his own home, issues arrest weeks later
Agents In FBI Shooting Working On Drug Investigation
OFFICIALS: FBI AGENT CLEARED IN FLORIDA SHOOTING
Mass. man arrested after recording officer in street
Minister, 92, sues Salisbury Police officer who tackled him to the floor
Report: Yakima police officer didn’t realize gun was a toy until after fatal shooting
NC man reaching for cane shot in SC traffic stop
Cops hit my car, then arrested me: suit
She Allegedly Went on a Simple Jog in Her Toe Shoes. So Why Did She End Up Screaming and in Handcuffs? ‘I Didn’t F**king Do Anything Wrong!’
Police Beat, Stun Deaf Man After Confusing Sign Language With Threatening Gestures
Officer Shoots Dog at Boy's Birthday Party (with video)
NC officer indicted in teen's shooting death
Arundel police officer kills family's dog during search
‘IN AMERICA, HOW DOES SUCH A THING HAPPEN?’
Man killed by Yakima police was holding an airsoft gun
Lawyer defends officer in BSL shooting investigation
Lawsuit filed over OR man's warrantless cavity search
Strip search lawsuit involving Springfield police officer Carla Daniele nears trial date
Flint Dance Club settlement for cavity searches
Metro Narcotics foots bill for forced body cavity search
City man suing police, claiming rights were violated after rectal search in public view (with documents)
UPDATED: 3 more police officers named in city man's anal-cavity search lawsuit
Trooper reinstated after illegal body cavity searches
Illegal body cavity search victims sue city and officers
Women sue over roadside cavity search
Female workers sue over Portsmouth strip searches
Police turn routine traffic stops into cavity searches
UPDATE: Trooper who performed roadside body cavity searches indicted on two counts of sexual assault, two counts official oppression
Lawsuit: Cops forced man to undergo enemas, colonoscopy on invalid warrant
Lawsuit: woman faced illegal body cavity search
ACLU suing over reported body cavity drug searches
Justice Coalition for Andy Lopez Statement on why Sherrif Gelhaus should be indicted

Fight the Free Sh☭t Nation

[sauropod]

Indeed.

[DoodleDawg]

So I would like America's police culture to be de-militarized. That will take some doing.

Won't happen. Police don't trust the public. Public doesn't trust the police. Neither is going to disarm so more shootings are inevitable.

[centurion316]

Johnson County, Kansas is a tony suburb of Kansas City that sits on the Kansas side of the line. Leawood is a tony municipal enclave within that county wherein all of the tony shops and stip malls can be found. Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, the Apple Store, Yogurtini, Orvis. The neighborhoods are equally upscale and all of this produces gobs of tax income that has been spent on a splendelicious Justice Center dripping with architectural extravagance.

The Justice Center supports the Leawood Police Department, who together with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department are the only thing standing between civilization and complete chaos. People have been known to have picnics in the park without possession of the required permit. Golden Retrievers have been reported off lease. Some people fail to sort the recyclables from their trash. You get the picture, it’s a rough town and the cops gotta be tough.

[JRandomFreeper]

It will happen if the lawmakers are forced to rein in their war dogs. Pressure on local lawmakers, or replacing them, can de-militarize the police.

/johnny

[moehoward]

Born and raised there, moved off back in the 80s, but go back to visit friends.

In the old days you could avoid the sheriffs. These days it seems there’s a ridiculous abundance of them. Too many cops trying too hard to justify their unneeded jobs.

[moehoward]

"It will happen if the lawmakers are forced to rein in their war dogs."

Oh it certainly will happen. But it will be from suing them out of existence, along with ending the flow of cash they need to buy all that crap.

[Spok]

It is clear that, after listening to Harry Reid about the Bundy situation in Nevada, the majority leader wants blood shed. The ‘compassionate left’ would love to see drone attacks on every group that dissents.

[Balding_Eagle]

Thanks for doing that.

Keep up the good work.

[LSAggie]

+1

[Mariner]

"I live in a police state"

With cell tracking, internet and phone monitoring, license plate tracking, facial recognition etc. The entire nation is one large prison camp.

"Police" can track you and find you anywhere and they can identify anyone, culling them from the masses for whatever reason they choose.

Once identified, they swoop in with overwhelming force that cannot be reasonably resisted.

Such will be the fate of the Bundy Patriots...on the way home or the following Tuesday at 0304hrs. They will forever lament the day they didn't kill 200 feds when they had a chance to make a difference, and impact.

The very same tactics will have to be employed against them or we will be forever slaves, our grandchildren too.

[vette6387]

“You get the picture, it’s a rough town and the cops gotta be tough.”

So you are saying that the cops resort to these tactics to ward off boredom?

[vette6387]

“Such will be the fate of the Bundy Patriots...on the way home or the following Tuesday at 0304hrs. They will forever lament the day they didn’t kill 200 feds when they had a chance to make a difference, and impact.”

If that does happen, it will be a game changer. From that point onward, cops will all have targets on their backs. The Feds can’t do another Waco and get away with it without penalty.

[centurion316]

I don’t recall saying that. What do you think?

[gaijin]

Everyone has heard the one about the Dept. of Education SWAT raid against the family whose errant mom had defaulted on some college loans:

The black ninjya tacticool Gear Queers crashed through the front door started smashing stuff, right..?

Outrageous, but pretty standard:

You probably didn’t know that they TACKLED all three kids inside, ages 3, 7 and 11 and then locked them in a police cruiser outside for TWO HOURS while they questioned the dad.

About college loans.

Of the mom, who had not lived at that address in over two years.

PONDER THAT.