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Police Militarization Is a Problem the Left and Right Can Agree About — and Solve
New York Magazine ^ | August 14, 2014 | Benjamin Wallace-Wells

Posted on 08/14/2014 2:41:49 PM PDT by nickcarraway

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To: nickcarraway

Why should liberals care? They’re the ones doing it.

the ongoing criminalization of political differences. An old leftist game.


41 posted on 08/14/2014 3:40:19 PM PDT by TBP (Obama lies, Granny dies.)
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To: Abathar; Abcdefg; Abram; Abundy; albertp; Alexander Rubin; Allosaurs_r_us; amchugh; ...



Libertarian ping! Click here to get added or here to be removed or post a message here!

42 posted on 08/14/2014 3:47:22 PM PDT by bamahead (Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master. -- Sallust)
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To: Temujinshordes

In 2008 I was 17 and living in an apartment with my single mother. My father was in prison where he belonged.

One fine morning at around 4am a Sacramento County Sheriff’s Dept. SWAT team broke down our door and held my mother and I at gunpoint while they searched the house (and destroyed furniture and etc. because they could). The SWAT team, we were told, was necessary because my father was a known felon. I knew that because I was the victim who testified against him.

And it’s time to say again that at this time my father was in prison.

We were told that they did not need a warrant because it was a social services issue. Later that day a social worker took me out of the apartment because the SWAT team had destroyed it and it was unlivable. See how that logic worked? They busted in without a warrant, destroyed the place, and that was a social services issue which justified why they broke in.

In any case and in response to your post: Why did a SWAT team in black uniforms with automatic weapons need to violently break into our home when they could have shown up at 7am, knocked on the door, and we’d have let them in?

So, sorry, I’m not a fan of SWAT teams being misused and I am less a fan of social workers.


43 posted on 08/14/2014 3:47:39 PM PDT by MeganC (It took Democrats four hours to deport Elian Gonzalez)
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To: AmusedBystander
Cops just need to watch old reruns of Dragnet. Joe Friday never needed a SWAT team (and he never killed a dog).

**************************

I loved that series. However, Joe Friday was a fictional character. Imho, the biggest problem in our country today is that we have a president and administration who consider themselves above the law. "The fish rots from the head".

44 posted on 08/14/2014 3:48:41 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: MeganC

I wish you would post your story on every thread.

There are people here who desperately need to hear these stories like yours. Thank you for telling it.

This problem MUST be fixed. Or America is done.

Botched Paramilitary Police Raids
http://www.cato.org/raidmap


45 posted on 08/14/2014 3:54:10 PM PDT by bamahead (Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master. -- Sallust)
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To: nickcarraway

Big tacit, unjustified assumption of this article: The “right” (Republicans) and the left view the militarization of the police as a problem.


46 posted on 08/14/2014 3:58:56 PM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: bamahead

This may be the cop who shot Brown http://rt.com/usa/180352-anonymous-reveal-identity-cop-ferguson/


47 posted on 08/14/2014 3:59:00 PM PDT by nomad
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To: bamahead

A problem that the left and right can agree on, and then can get together and solve, is something the media and their political puppet masters despise.

This is why the media has marginalized the original Tea Party as being racist. Racist and PC is the true canard that the puppet masters love, because they can eternally use it to pit average Americans against each other.

A POLICE STATE always enthralls the elites who own the police, the politicians, and are now screaming to keep our borders open and take away our 2nd Amendment. The left/right divide and PC are something Hollywood and the media shrilly define, not by real Americans.


48 posted on 08/14/2014 4:01:15 PM PDT by apoliticalone (The MSM has a role to keep Americans divided rather than having a United States)
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To: nickcarraway

Conservatives really need to grab this bull by the horns as their issue, because it already has national momentum, and if the left grabs it, it will turn into a national disaster.

What conservatives want: the de-paramilitarization of police. For them to be forced to get rid of their military weapons, and to dispense with SWAT brutalities, a return to the fourth and fifth amendment.

What the leftists want: for police to not arrest blacks who are breaking the law, and to release hundreds of thousands of violent convicts on to our streets. As well as strictly limiting the ability of honest people to protect themselves from violent criminals.

As you can see, these are NOT the same goals.


49 posted on 08/14/2014 4:11:44 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("Don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative." -Obama, 09-24-11)
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To: nickcarraway

I often hear of “a few bad cops” giving all the others a bad name. The question then becomes; “Why don’t the good cops, turn in the bad cops?” The only comparison, and I will be the first to admit that it is an unfair one, is to Islam.

We are always told of the radical 10% that are the trouble makers, but we never hear anything from the other 90%, that rebukes the actions of the minority.

Same holds true of police, no matter how poorly or illegally an officer has acted, his brothers and sisters in blue will NOT speak up against him.

Another impediment to cleaning up law enforcement is that when an officer is found guilty of misconduct, the tax payers and not the officer are on the hook for any costs. The officer may lose their job, but the tax payer foots the bill.

So what can we do to fix this situation? Well as my old First Sergeant used to say; “Don’t complain unless you have a solution to the problem.” Well here is my idea.

Any and all monetary damages awarded to a plaintiff as a result of the actions of law enforcement officers, are to ONLY come from the offending departments or organizations pension fund.

Only when it hits home personally by weakening every officers retirement, will the good ones begin to turn in the bad ones. In time, department phycologists and training officers will do a better job of weeding out the nut jobs. Senior staff will do a better job of triple checking addresses before conducting a “no-knock” late night call to a suspect’s home. Officers will advise their partners that a course of action is not advised, rather than just going along.

And once this has happened, law enforcement might begin to gain some of the mountain of trust and respect that they have lost in past few years.


50 posted on 08/14/2014 4:13:49 PM PDT by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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To: nickcarraway; All

The argument that its the gadgetry of the police that’s the problem is one akin to the left blaming guns when there’s a shooting.

Its not the inanimate objects at fault its the behavior.

The bundy ranch standoff was about an unjust government organization using laws designed to steal from citizens

But people burning down business and shooting at helicopters cause they’re mad about a shooting of one black person by a white cop (but could care less about the thousands of blacks shot by other blacks) are not protesting illigitimate laws they are breaking legitimate laws and SHOULD be held accountable and arrested by police.


51 posted on 08/14/2014 4:28:26 PM PDT by Cubs Fan (Orwell's writings were meant as warnings, but to the left they are instruction manuals.)
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Comment #52 Removed by Moderator

To: servantboy777

No, that is what the cop SAYS happened. Note his story is one that is hard to disprove, much like the ever popular “He reached for his waistband” claims. Used so often, it seems like a trained response.


53 posted on 08/14/2014 4:39:59 PM PDT by LevinFan
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To: nomad; Admin Moderator

Yeah?

And it may not be.

In any case, we don’t advocate on behalf of vigilantes.


54 posted on 08/14/2014 4:48:48 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: nickcarraway

Who stood by over the last 20 years and let this happen?

Who stood by over the last twenty years and approved the funding that financed this?


55 posted on 08/14/2014 4:49:29 PM PDT by Iron Munro (<i>)
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To: minnesota_bound
1st step is get rid of the unions for city & state workers.

First step is to quit paying the gibsmedats to do nothing.

56 posted on 08/14/2014 4:51:50 PM PDT by NorthMountain
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To: Iron Munro

Uhmmm...you?

/s


57 posted on 08/14/2014 4:52:12 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: fwdude

“Could someone please define “militarization” for me, concretely? I don’t think it means what you think it means.”

Increased use of military quality weapons, Most aren’t proficient in the weapons they have, hence shooting a hostage in LA 10 times. The firepower cops want to have has more to do with how cool it is, than any real need.

tactics, excess aggressiveness is the order of the day any more. SWAT this, SWAT that, toss in flashbangs and don’t care if it harms someone. Smash through a house and not care if it is the wrong one, if the suspects are innocent, or if the confusion will result in people killed because the residents don’t even understand it is cops.
Nor do they seem to care about the mess they leave behind when done. Do you really think you can smash through a house yelling threats of death, and it not have lasting affect even on men? Let alone children?

Attitudes, a demeanor suited to an occupying soldier rather than a civilian law enforcement officer. I never see cops being respectful to anyone, especially if that person doesn’t agree with them. I trade back and forth with one at another site. A total jerk with everyone, and totally arrogant.
Cops are SERVANTS, not masters. Start thinking and acting along those lines.

Appearance. I can’t remember when cops did, and were expected, to cultivate a professional appearance that would be as equally at home or in a professional office. Now? Cops look more appropriate to a SEAL recruitment effort or action flick. Or as bouncers.
I’d never hire the average cop who cultivates this image.
And as you image yourself, so shall you be. When you choose a certain look, that is who you choose to become.

Accountability. We’re reaching levels of unaccountable behavior we don’t even allow soldiers. Dorner hunt screw ups, and not one piglet got charged or even fired? Cop kills kid with a wii controller, only lost her job.

Thin Blue Line. Not exactly military, but it has GOT TO GO. It is their job to police all criminals, even if he has a badge. They don’t need to be able to trust a fellow officer to cover a crime, in order to trust him to watch his back.
We aren’t paying them to watch each other’s back against our just criticisms. We are paying them to watch OUR backs against ALL criminals.
Yet the concept of cops covering for each other has grown massively. Even Officer Harless of Canton and the shooters in the Dorner hunt get massive support.
This behavior is more like what a GANG would do, than a LE agency or even military unit would do.


58 posted on 08/14/2014 4:57:01 PM PDT by LevinFan
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To: nickcarraway

Instead of demilitarizing the police, couldn’t we just let the general population “militarize” itself to the same level?


59 posted on 08/14/2014 5:03:39 PM PDT by Usually_Disappointed (...)
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To: Half Vast Conspiracy
The Art of War states that you use like force in a combat situation. It will not take long for the people to step up to the next level of conflict. I believe the Po Po will not hold their mud when like force is applied. Let me tell a story of some BLM people that came close to seeing Jesus in Nevada.
60 posted on 08/14/2014 5:05:58 PM PDT by lostboy61 (Lock and Load and stand your ground!.)
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