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Marine Corps creates law enforcement battalions
Associated Press ^ | Jul 22, 5:33 PM EDT | JULIE WATSON

Posted on 07/22/2012 6:26:22 PM PDT by BenLurkin

The Marine Corps has created its first law enforcement battalions - a lean, specialized force of military police officers that it hopes can quickly deploy worldwide to help investigate crimes from terrorism to drug trafficking and train fledgling security forces in allied nations.

The Corps activated three such battalions last month. Each is made up of roughly 500 military police officers and dozens of dogs. The Marine Corps has had police battalions off and on since World War II but they were primarily focused on providing security, such as accompanying fuel convoys or guarding generals on visits to dangerous areas, said Maj. Jan Durham, commander of the 1st Law Enforcement Battalion at Camp Pendleton.

...

The battalions will be capable of helping control civil disturbances, handling detainees, carrying out forensic work, and using biometrics to identify suspects. Durham said they could assist local authorities in allied countries in securing crime scenes and building cases so criminals end up behind bars and not back out on the streets because of mistakes.

(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...


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To: Breto

You do know that if that happens it will be our fault? We our fathers passed down freedom to us. It is our duty to pass it down to the next generation.


21 posted on 07/22/2012 7:19:40 PM PDT by Steve Newton (And the Wolves will learn what we have shown before-We love our sheep we dogs of war. Vaughn)
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To: SauronOfMordor
Posse comitatus forbids the Army from being involved in domestic law enforcement. It does not cover Marines. Nor does it cover militarized fed law enforcement.

Wasn't the 101st Airborne Division used to quell the riots in Watts, CA after the National Guard could not do it? Also, I do believe that General Wesley Clarke and at least 1 tank was used at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

22 posted on 07/22/2012 7:19:52 PM PDT by NY Attitude (Make love not war but be prepared for either.)
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To: BenLurkin

Team America - World Police. Nuff said.


23 posted on 07/22/2012 7:21:07 PM PDT by glorgau
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To: I_Publius
For those who like me, are a little skitish about domestic uses of the armed forces. At first, I thought, Oh great! Gestapo.

The Posse Comitatus Act Section 1385 of Title 18, United States Code (USC), states:

“Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”

The PCA does not apply to the U.S. Coast Guard in peacetime or to the National Guard in Title 32 or State Active Duty status. The substantive prohibitions of the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA) were extended to all the services with the enactment of Title 10 USC, Section 375. As required by Title 10 USC, Section 375 the secretary of defense issued Department of Defense Directive 5525.5, which precludes members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps from direct participation in a search, seizure, arrest, or other similar activity unless participation in such activity by such member is otherwise authorized by law.

The PCA generally prohibits U.S. military personnel from direct participation in law enforcement activities. Some of those law enforcement activities would include interdicting vehicles, vessels, and aircraft; conducting surveillance, searches, pursuit and seizures; or making arrests on behalf of civilian law enforcement authorities. Prohibiting direct military involvement in law enforcement is in keeping with long-standing U.S. law and policy limiting the military’s role in domestic affairs.

The United States Congress has enacted a number of exceptions to the PCA that allow the military, in certain situations, to assist civilian law enforcement agencies in enforcing the laws of the U.S. The most common example is counterdrug assistance (Title 10 USC, Sections 371-381). Other examples include:

•The Insurrection Act (Title 10 USC, Sections 331-335). This act allows the president to use U.S. military personnel at the request of a state legislature or governor to suppress insurrections. It also allows the president to use federal troops to enforce federal laws when rebellion against the authority of the U.S. makes it impracticable to enforce the laws of the U.S.

•Assistance in the case of crimes involving nuclear materials (Title 18 USC, Section 831). This statute permits DoD personnel to assist the Justice Department in enforcing prohibitions regarding nuclear materials, when the attorney general and the secretary of defense jointly determine that an “emergency situation” exists that poses a serious threat to U.S. interests and is beyond the capability of civilian law enforcement agencies.

•Emergency situations involving chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction (Title 10 USC, Section 382). When the attorney general and the secretary of defense jointly determine that an “emergency situation” exists that poses a serious threat to U.S. interests and is beyond the capability of civilian law enforcement agencies. DoD personnel may assist the Justice Department in enforcing prohibitions regarding biological or chemical weapons of mass destruction.

Military support to civilian law enforcement is carried out in strict compliance with the Constitution and U.S. laws and under the direction of the president and secretary of defense.

24 posted on 07/22/2012 7:27:00 PM PDT by immadashell
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To: Bryanw92
I personally don't give a shit, as long as they sign off on our guys killing the enemy as a matter of warfare and they stand up against the the president, the congress, the UN, the NWO, the LMNOP, and whatever other alphabet soup agency may want to sissify us with.
25 posted on 07/22/2012 7:32:32 PM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true)
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To: BenLurkin

General James Mattoon Scott: Where are you, now that we need you?


26 posted on 07/22/2012 7:34:52 PM PDT by clintonh8r (Happy to be represented by Lt. Col. Allen West)
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To: BenLurkin

Long as they don’t deploy them here.


27 posted on 07/22/2012 7:36:39 PM PDT by RIghtwardHo
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To: I_Publius
"The Insurrection Act (Title 10 USC, Sections 331-335). This act allows the president to use U.S. military personnel at the request of a state legislature or governor to suppress insurrections. It also allows the president to use federal troops to enforce federal laws when rebellion against the authority of the U.S. makes it impracticable to enforce the laws of the U.S."

Who exactly determines when rebellion against the authority of the U.S. makes it impracticable to enforce the laws of the U.S.?

The Chief Executive Officer??

28 posted on 07/22/2012 7:39:19 PM PDT by Delta 21 (Oh Crap !! Did I say that out loud ??!??)
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To: BenLurkin

This is an ominous development.

The Marine Corps is not a police force.


29 posted on 07/22/2012 7:40:39 PM PDT by Iron Munro ("Jiggle the Handle for Barry!")
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To: coloradan

F# Yeah!

Our USMC should not be so degraded. Let other countries and their sordid, rat-infested, corrupt police departments work their own crimes.


30 posted on 07/22/2012 7:42:51 PM PDT by combat_boots (The Lion of Judah cometh. Hallelujah. Gloria Patri, Filio et Spiritui Sancto.)
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To: NY Attitude
"Wasn't the 101st Airborne Division used to quell the riots in Watts, CA after the National Guard could not do it? Also, I do believe that General Wesley Clarke and at least 1 tank was used at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas."

One was a riot (an insurrection). The other was not. And the best prevention against guerrilla warfare is good and moral government. We should not be taking our lessons from tourists who favor their subservient little reservations in third world slum countries.


31 posted on 07/22/2012 7:55:41 PM PDT by familyop ("Wanna cigarette? You're never too young to start." --Deacon, "Waterworld")
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To: Bryanw92
I wonder how the ethnic and homosexual makeup of these units will compare to the USMC overall?

Just speculation on my part. I could be wrong.


32 posted on 07/22/2012 7:57:38 PM PDT by QT3.14 (ZeroCare Death Panels = Shovel-ready projects)
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To: familyop

The Bill Clinton Presidency was a good and moral government?


33 posted on 07/22/2012 8:15:00 PM PDT by NY Attitude (Make love not war but be prepared for either.)
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To: BenLurkin
I met a New Zealander a few years back who was a US Marine. He claimed that the US military recruited English-speaking non-citizens to get around Posse Comitatus. He claimed to have been involved in all sorts of domestic shenanigans.

There are a lot of possibilities there, none of them good.

34 posted on 07/22/2012 8:29:02 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Government is the religion of the sociopath.)
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To: NY Attitude
"The Bill Clinton Presidency was a good and moral government?"

No. It wasn't. What I said.

The Hillary Clinton presidency with her First Lady, Bill "Howdy Doody" Clinton, though, did resemble the politics of New York, California and Soviet Moscow.

A good nation will not be controlled by eliminations of freedoms, intensified surveillance against its citizens and social pathologies forced on it by the spoiled effete. It can only be well administered by good (as in moral) government.

We haven't seen government based on morality for a long time. And yes. It once was, contrary to blatherings about Rome from immoral attorneys.


35 posted on 07/22/2012 8:45:08 PM PDT by familyop ("Wanna cigarette? You're never too young to start." --Deacon, "Waterworld")
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

BS!


36 posted on 07/22/2012 8:47:04 PM PDT by TheGunny
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To: familyop
I do agree with you regarding the lack of morality in government. It is truly sad.
37 posted on 07/22/2012 8:53:06 PM PDT by NY Attitude (Make love not war but be prepared for either.)
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To: I_Publius
Posse comitatus act defined.

As if Barack Obama cared one little bit about the law of the land.


38 posted on 07/22/2012 8:58:16 PM PDT by Iron Munro ("Jiggle the Handle for Barry!")
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To: BenLurkin

MPs can’t even grasp the Traffic Codes/Vehicle Codes.

A waste of manpower.


39 posted on 07/22/2012 9:05:22 PM PDT by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
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To: NY Attitude

Thank you.


40 posted on 07/22/2012 9:23:32 PM PDT by familyop ("Wanna cigarette? You're never too young to start." --Deacon, "Waterworld")
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