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Barney Fife Meets Delta Force: Hypermilitarized police departments are more dangerous than...
National Review Online ^ | June 27, 2014 | Charles C. W. Cooke

Posted on 06/28/2014 10:13:01 AM PDT by Perseverando


The Pentagon has donated hundreds of MRAP vehicles to police departments nationwide.

Snip:

Historians looking back at this period in America’s development will consider it to be profoundly odd that at the exact moment when violent crime hit a 50-year low, the nation’s police departments began to gear up as if the country were expecting invasion — and, on occasion, to behave as if one were underway. The ACLU reported recently that SWAT teams in the United States conduct around 45,000 raids each year, only 7 percent of which have anything whatsoever to do with the hostage situations with which those teams were assembled to contend. Paramilitary operations, the ACLU concluded, are “happening in about 124 homes every day — or more likely every night” — and four in five of those are performed in order that authorities might “search homes, usually for drugs.” Such raids routinely involve “armored personnel carriers,” “military equipment like battering rams,” and “flashbang grenades.”

Were the military being used in such a manner, we would be rightly outraged. Why not here? Certainly this is not a legal matter. The principle of posse comitatus draws a valuable distinction between the national armed forces and parochial law enforcement, and one that all free people should greatly cherish. Still, it seems plain that the potential threat posed by a domestic standing army is not entirely blunted just because its units are controlled locally. To add the prefix “para” to a problem is not to make it go away, nor do legal distinctions change the nature of power. Over the past two decades, the federal government has happily sent weapons of war to local law enforcement, with nary a squeak from anyone involved with either political party. Are we comfortable with this?

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: banglist; cnsf; cw2; dhs; donutwatch; lawenforcement; leo; militarizedpolice; policestate; possecomitatus; swat; tyranny
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To: Perseverando

Montgomery county texas sheriffs office. Looks more like soldiers in Iraq.

http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/us-police-force-becoming-militarized-2013.jpg


41 posted on 06/28/2014 4:17:26 PM PDT by servantboy777
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To: Perseverando

Watching the second Hunger Games movie while reading this, and it’s playing the part where the “peacekeepers” are brutalizing District 12.

I can honestly see the peacekeepers replaced by SWAT teams and doing the same thing


42 posted on 06/28/2014 4:20:55 PM PDT by RWB Patriot ("My ability is a value that must be earned and I don't recognize anyone's need as a claim on me.")
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To: Delta Dawn

Moose have antlers?


Well.... they are very horny...


43 posted on 06/28/2014 4:27:26 PM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole..)
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To: RaveOn
... male police officers in one NJ town petitioned to wear earrings on the job, to make them look more intimidating.

When I was growing up, there were a few old timers with earrings. They were old swabbies who had sailed the 7 seas, and wore that earring as a symbol of their travels. Part of the blued, screwed, and tattooed process I gathered.

Now if I see a man with an earring I immediately think druggie or fruit.

44 posted on 06/28/2014 4:49:15 PM PDT by kitchen (Even the walls have ears.)
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To: DuncanWaring; 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!

45 posted on 06/28/2014 5:08:38 PM PDT by bamahead (Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master. -- Sallust)
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To: Balding_Eagle
resources for our side

And Fedzilla is thinking they are their resources being staged near potential insurgents. Are country citizens being trained how to operate this equipment in a pinch? Not likely.

46 posted on 06/28/2014 5:59:28 PM PDT by Reeses
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To: Balding_Eagle

I’m thinking that if they need an MWRAP then I need an AT4, just for the sake of parity.


47 posted on 06/28/2014 6:01:56 PM PDT by tbpiper
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To: luvbach1

Just more targets of opportunity for when shooting war starts

Or neat toys for our side when TSHTF

Even with all this SWAT masturbatory implements it won’t he enough for local Barneys to hold off a well heeled response by patriot citizenry

Nor will all Barney’s take the side of tyranny push come to shove

WMD in the hands of govt forces....now that is a bigger threat in a shoorubf war


48 posted on 06/28/2014 6:06:31 PM PDT by wardaddy (we will not take back our way of life through peaceful means.....i have 5 kids....i fear for them)
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To: Blue Ink

>b>Extremely well said!....bravo</b>


49 posted on 06/29/2014 12:17:42 AM PDT by Tainan (Cogito, ergo conservatus sum -- "The Taliban is inside the building")
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To: wardaddy
They can keep their toys in a big ol well defended garage...but they have to get to the garage. And folks will know where they live...and what they drive...and who their families are.
Just sayin'...
50 posted on 06/29/2014 12:36:44 AM PDT by Tainan (Cogito, ergo conservatus sum -- "The Taliban is inside the building")
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To: bamahead

Somehow, I imagine the dog shootings, the elderly citizen shootings, etc would have received a much stronger responsenthe first time in the 1770s.


51 posted on 06/29/2014 7:10:01 AM PDT by Altariel ("Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!")
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To: Altariel

**response the


52 posted on 06/29/2014 7:15:58 AM PDT by Altariel ("Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!")
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To: Perseverando
Well, when the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, the world starts to look like it's full of nails. All the more so when you've paid millions for that hammer.
53 posted on 06/29/2014 7:56:18 AM PDT by Redcloak (Winter is coming.)
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To: B4Ranch

BTTT

Thank you!


54 posted on 06/30/2014 9:11:10 AM PDT by LadyBuck (Some day very soon, Life's little Twinkie gauge is gonna go......empty.)
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To: Hulka

“Officer safety comes first”

Very informative. This absolutely represents a fundamental change in policing and a root cause of growing public disgust with law enforcement. Their mission is protect and serve the public, not their own axx.

The cost of law enforcement is taking an ever increasing huge portion of the community budgets for their generous compensation, benefits, pensions, early retirements, and immunity from prosecution.. It won’t be long before the public demands major cuts in policing if this trend continues. They want services that serve them, such as parks, infrastructure, and abuse.


55 posted on 07/05/2014 10:17:46 PM PDT by apoliticalone (Global corporatism is the threat to freedom and rights. They want your sovereignty and politicians.)
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