Posted on 05/30/2009 6:56:12 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A $226,000 armored vehicle for the North Richland Hills Police Department SWAT team arrived a few days ago to replace one the agency got in 1990.
To many people that vehicle — and others like it used by police departments across the country — will go unnoticed. The public seems to largely accept the use of military-type equipment, technology and tactics as not only appropriate but also necessary to fight crime and make communities more safe and secure.
Armored vehicles are used by law enforcement agencies in Fort Worth, Arlington and Bedford and at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, just to name a few. Some police departments have assault rifles, noise-flash devices and grenade launchers. Arlington even sought federal money for a drone aircraft.
But some criminal-justice experts are troubled by law enforcement agencies’ growing use of military-style equipment. Rather than employ such equipment only in extreme situations, the critics say, their use is becoming commonplace, leading police to use unnecessary force and intimidating residents. For example, some cite an episode last year in which police used a battering ram to raid a Duncanville swingers club when no one answered a knock.
"We have been witnesses to a little-noticed but nonetheless momentous historical change — the traditional distinctions between military/police, war/law and internal/external security are rapidly blurring," said criminal justice professor Peter Kraska, of Eastern Kentucky University, in one on his studies on the militarization of police departments.
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
.......No 2DV, it’s just little boys with penis envy problems......
They have been given tons of federal money that must be spent...... or lost
More and more police departments across the nation are finding they absolutely MUST have this sort of equipment to deal with the increase in speeders and parking meter violations.
You can never have too much firepower when handling a recalcitrant motorist who refuses to pay his parking tickets.
YOu have got to be $#ittin’ me! That is a new one to me. Wow! The mind boggles! Yet it make sense, when you consider how long off they could spot a vehicle.
“apparently Freerepublic is the place to come if you want to badmouth the police and put the hate on all law enforcement.”
So you see it as a good thing when cops adopt military tactics, weapons and training?
Perhaps they should be quartered in peoples homes, to keep them ‘safe’.
You’re funny. Thanks for the smackdown. Not all of us think you’re a bunch of jack-booted thugs. Some of us are grateful for your service, and we realize that you risk your lives every day for us. Some of us take your work for us very personally and pray for you each day.
Illegitimi non carborundum.
Or blueberry pancakes...
snicker
[apparently Freerepublic is the place to come if you want to badmouth the police]
I didn’t read through all the comments brentla. My own comment about donuts and coffee is true, albeit a common joke, and too many policemen are overweight even though there are rules about that.
My own brother is a Chief of Police and I know him to be a very decent man in every way and he takes his job seriously.
He also considers himself a conservative - but he would disagree with much that is posted here on the forum. Why? Because, as I told him, he gets all his information from government sources.
.
Blueberry pancakes are great
Esp. with butter, cream cheese, and honey pre-nuked on the plate before plating the pancake (maybe add fresh crushed blueberries before nuking for 55 seconds)
Add a bit of salt, bicarb of soda, about 2-3 eggs, milk - to Aunt Jemima*s Buttermilk Complete pancake mix - maybe some broken up bits of Jones pre-cooked pork sausage - do not make the mix too thick - make plenty of this mix and fridge what you do not use for the next few days
Canola oil and (REAL) butter in your pan or on your griddle at about 350°F
Drop on some fresh or frozen blueberries after ladling out the huge pancake
A tempered glass lid on the pan will help it without excess burner temp
Do not get heat to high or burn the pancake(s)?
When bubbles start to appear evenly across the pancake - shake the pan and allow melted butter to get under the pancake and get ready to flip it
Spread pre-warmed cream cheese/butter mix on the pancake as it finishes cooking
Try to stick to just one large thin pancake - With all the stuff I mentioned - you will not die of starvation
You will not need donuts later in the day if you have one of these
Yeah - the added eggs (to COMPLETE mix) add cholesterol - but you are only having one pancake and it tastes so good..... Also simpler and quicker for me to fix instead of in a separate pan on the side
There is also a great blueberry syrup made by Welch*s ??????
My doc says forget the blackberries, strawberries, etc.
Blueberries - every day
Recommended by Col. Samuel Colt and Wild Bill Hickok
Honest
Lol, you need your own cooking show!!
You had missed my post, pancakes were a ‘bump’.
Yep consider the terrain in the last part of the movie “castaway” with Tom Hanks.....Highway 83 in the Panhandle of Texas. That is the landscape here.
They don't look like cops, they look like Obama's "Civilian National Army", that Nappy-head is in charge of.
Sounds about right - especially considering every police offense you listed in your supposedly sarcastic rant has actually been documented in the the last year - including the dog shooting.
I never expected a cop to agree with me. I have had this conversation with several of the ones I know and they, like you, are UTTERLY blameless and innocent of all charges. The blue line remains uncrossed so don’t worry. Only my air marshal friend agrees with me.
In any case, if you wanted to have a rational discussion about this, we could start with the simple little things like the appearance and attitude. Why the Stasi/Gestapo look huh? WHY oh why do cops need blacked out/souped up dodge CHARGERS? Give me a break.
The whole shtick - from attitude to uniform to the damn car itself scream “don’t f with me”.
You’re a PEACE officer, not a soldier in an occupied country and not secret police and most definitely not the mayors tough guys.
Swell.
That does not excuse the same para-military paratrooper attitude (sans actual mission) here in South Jersey. Lots of trees. Not much parachuting in the area. We do, however, have more cops per sq ft than anywhere else in the nation and they all look and act like the are getting ready for a screen test in a live action version of “Call of duty”.
The cops are so thick here that they practically fall over themselves. They have very heated discussions between towns as to just who and where the next “safety checkpoint” (read revenue cash cow) event will be.
You have a primary this week today or tomorrow ?!?! Take like minded folks to the polls with ya !
I have seen what ya speak of there......bunch of wannabe yahoo losers playing soldier versus peace officers.....Get rid of Gov JC and defund the stasi poser pandering police for pennies !
Ding, ding, ding!
Thanks. Ya might wanna tell brent1a and others who see it his way what YOU have seen.
Some folks just haven’t figured out there are good cops and bad cops just as all other professions in life. A badge is not a pass to abuse that entrusted to them. Few that do abuse it bring bad light on those that do not. Just as I will vote for said sheriff , I will seek his head on a pike if he commits a criminal act or violates the trust his voters had in him and it is proven to be his fault !
Small number of bad , fooks it for the majority of the good and folks on both sides of the issue can’t separate the two sadly as we see here, anger issues..........:o)
I was a peace officer,deputy sheriff , had no time for fund raising for the county via law enforcement. If you were speeding in my presence I stopped ya and took my time writing a warning ticket. Maybe 30 or more minutes. Time you could have been where ya wanted to be had ya driven in a safe prescribed manner. Money ya have, I didn’t want it , did nothing for me . Time ya didn’t have and as long as I had ya on the side of the road you weren’t going to hurt anyone and the display was for all to see as .....ooops better slow down the assholes are writing tickets again !........:o)
Good Peace Officers, Bad Law Enforcement.....people have to take time to turn in , complain and go after the bad in court.
States need to address the removal of certificates from those fired IMO who usually get fired and then go to a smaller or maybe even a larger department all pissed off and smarter in the ways not to get caught again. If your fired versus disciplined that certification should be voided until you attend another academy and pass it.......risk managers need to do extensive backgrounds on new hires with or without experience.
My opinion......Stay safe !
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