Posted on 08/14/2014 8:32:25 PM PDT by conservative98
Anyone who thinks race does not skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention, Sen. Rand Paul writes for TIME, amid violence in Ferguson, Mo. over the police shooting death of Michael Brown
The shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown is an awful tragedy that continues to send shockwaves through the community of Ferguson, Missouri and across the nation.
If I had been told to get out of the street as a teenager, there would have been a distinct possibility that I might have smarted off. But, I wouldn’t have expected to be shot.
The outrage in Ferguson is understandable—though there is never an excuse for rioting or looting. There is a legitimate role for the police to keep the peace, but there should be a difference between a police response and a military response.
The images and scenes we continue to see in Ferguson resemble war more than traditional police action.
Glenn Reynolds, in Popular Mechanics, recognized the increasing militarization of the police five years ago. In 2009 he wrote:
Soldiers and police are supposed to be different. … Police look inward. They’re supposed to protect their fellow citizens from criminals, and to maintain order with a minimum of force.
It’s the difference between Audie Murphy and Andy Griffith. But nowadays, police are looking, and acting, more like soldiers than cops, with bad consequences. And those who suffer the consequences are usually innocent civilians.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb? Why would cops wear camouflage gear against a terrain patterned by convenience stores and beauty parlors? Why are the authorities in Ferguson, Mo. so given to quasi-martial crowd control methods (such as bans on walking on the street) and, per the reporting of Riverfront Times, the firing of tear gas at people in their own yards? (“‘This my property!’ he shouted, prompting police to fire a tear gas canister directly at his face.”) Why would someone identifying himself as an 82nd Airborne Army veteran, observing the Ferguson police scene, comment that “We rolled lighter than that in an actual warzone”?
Olson added, “the dominant visual aspect of the story, however, has been the sight of overpowering police forces confronting unarmed protesters who are seen waving signs or just their hands.”
How did this happen?
Most police officers are good cops and good people. It is an unquestionably difficult job, especially in the current circumstances.
There is a systemic problem with today’s law enforcement.
Not surprisingly, big government has been at the heart of the problem. Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies—where police departments compete to acquire military gear that goes far beyond what most of Americans think of as law enforcement.
This is usually done in the name of fighting the war on drugs or terrorism. The Heritage Foundation’s Evan Bernick wrote in 2013 that, “the Department of Homeland Security has handed out anti-terrorism grants to cities and towns across the country, enabling them to buy armored vehicles, guns, armor, aircraft, and other equipment.”
Bernick continued, “federal agencies of all stripes, as well as local police departments in towns with populations less than 14,000, come equipped with SWAT teams and heavy artillery.”
Bernick noted the cartoonish imbalance between the equipment some police departments possess and the constituents they serve, “today, Bossier Parish, Louisiana, has a .50 caliber gun mounted on an armored vehicle. The Pentagon gives away millions of pieces of military equipment to police departments across the country—tanks included.”
I guess this jerk doesn’t keep up with crime statistics, and just who perpetrates the most crime, including interracial crime.
Well, now the loose cannon makes some sense....
Perhaps we are approaching this scene from “V for Vendetta”. The whole society (future Britain) fears the tyrannical police state, until the day comes when the cop goes too far — and then the people decide not to be afraid anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJF1pMKicTY
How about starting with the Federal Agencies first!
When a full-on riot hits his neighborhood, I hope they send in Barney Fife and his one bullet.
lol
They are called rioters. They cry ‘Kill whitey’
Thank God that you don't live in those war zones.
I cant blame the police for protecting themselves.
I like the idea of forcing police to video their stops and confrontations, and make it illegal for police to take away cameras or phone-cams,
but Rand needs to stop playing rev Al Sharpton.
I am all for demilitarizing the police as long as every law-abiding man in the country can have an AR-15 and a hundred rounds
“...”Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb?”...”
To intimidate.
To make you COMPLY.
To make you so terrified of them, you’ll pee down your leg.
I agree with Paul on the need for demilitarizing police. The small town I went to college at now uses an armored BearCat to chase away kids who are partying. What is next, responding to a domestic dispute with a tank?
I think our law enforcement agencies are turning into just what the founding fathers wanted to prevent. Standing armies operating on domestic soil.
Precisely the reason we have 2A. And more proof that 2A means for Americans to have arms sufficient to deal with a standing army should that army try putting an iron boot on their necks. That doesn’t mean muskets.
It is also an object lesson as to why 2A doesn’t mean hunting or protection from crime. Those are automatic, they didn’t conceive of the possible need for amendment guaranteeing arms for that any more than needing one for the right to farm and eat.
Not me, I would be glad they came to keep the looters and rapists out,
Rev Al is stirring up the race war.
If all the police pulled out of the inner cities libs would be howling about that too.
“...I would be glad they came to keep the looters and rapists out,...”
They don’t get there until after it happens, brother.
Who in their right mind would apply for a job in law enforcement in these thug invested cities. Rand Paul needs to go on night patrol by himself in these neighborhoods. He is beginning to really get on my nerves. I think it is time for him to go back to his family practice.
Don’t think that the cops themselves aren’t thinking the same thing. They can’t officially just leave of course, but they are doing the equivalent of-what is the union term for showing up and barely going through the motions?
Isn’t that the truth. Chicago has a cop shortage already. Rahm created it artificially, but now it’s at the point where state troopers and feds are having to go in to make up the difference. He can’t have expected that, I’m wondering if his war on the CPD has backfired on him.
Paul is really the legislative twin of Mitch McC after all.
Remember those scenes of Boston PD and the Staties pulling people from their homes at gunpoint during the hunt for the Marathon bombers. Armored vehicles were on the streets and troopers carrying M4s, wearing cammies and deltoid armor made a very intimidating scene. Paul, IMO is right. Cops are supposed to be citizens not warriors.And whoever said start with the feds is spot on. Too many agencies possess needless SWAT units and the feds are giving away MRAPs, and $$$ to buy all this military equipment. I’d venture a guess that these cops in Mo. are as geared up and more than rifle platoons in A’stan.
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