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 ...
Irrelevant. Argue as you may the facts are the Police depend too much on SWAT and heavy hands. If the kid reached for the Cops gun he deserved to go to jail but by all accounts so far he tried to run after failing to get the gun and was shot when running. Thats where it gets confusing, as the cops havent released anything and all we have are eyewitnesses. So heres the point on your stats. I agree the blacks has a huge problem with disproportionate crime directed at themselves and others, that is irrelevant to this case. If the eyewitnesses are correct it was an execution, anybody who thinks that is deserving because of stats are well no conservative.
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Your reply is so to-the-point that I have little to add to it. Yes, the urban black yutes are fouling their own nests, but that isn’t the point. The cops have gotten a very inflated idea of what we expect them to do. We as a country need to examine our expectations of LEOs, and take them down quite a few notches.
We must continue financing the armament producers and prison industrial complex with our tax dollars, actually, the major increase in Swat team actions has turned a number of situation from manageable to deadly. A lot of homeland security money has gone to these local pork police projects. Meanwhile vast numbers of shipping containers go uninspected and border areas unprotected. We taxpayers thank you most humblely.
When a few heads explode from sniper shots 600 yards away these pseudo soldier cops will scurry like the Iraq army (30,000)running from only 800 ISIS terrorists.
The outrage in Ferguson is understandable—though there is never an excuse for rioting or looting.
Does rand paul KNOW what happened in ferguson between the cop and micheal brown? He is convicting the cop without the knowledge of the facts.
rand paul is as crazy as his father...apple-tree.
For once I have to agree with Paul, at least to some extent.
I have a son and grandson who are both State Troopers. I see what they are being trained for an wonder “WHY” is such training and expertise needed in a once peaceful country?
We live in frightening times.
Thank you for posting this..as I was about to. That was a scene I don’t want in my neighborhood...innocents being dragged from their homes at gunpoint, etc., their dogs tied to fences and someone filming from his own home was threatened. And in the end, it was one observant homeowner who spotted the perp in his own yard. Also agree with the statement re: other federal agencies completely unrelated to law enforcement. I can see the FBI having equipment...but not Agriculture and numerous other federal agencies who have these WAT teams.
Clueless bastards. They really live up to their creepy name.
Chicago cops dislike and mistrust the Feds as much as FReepers. Read about it here at Second City Cop:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=13350456&postID=3892834148145976570
“....however when you run low on ammo ...”
That would be deeply - DEEPLY - humiliating... why, I’d NEVER be able to show my face again in social circles...
“Did you hear? Hale ran out of AMMO!”
“My GAWD, NO!? Do tell!”
“’S True!”
“How positively GAUCHE!”
“Harrumph!”
“...I wish you were my neighbor...”
Awww....I’m blushing!! Stop!!! Betcha say dat to ALL the gunnies!!! hahah!
When conservatives band together - Tea Party conservatives - we have pro-government rallies. We stand there together saying, "YOU MUST OBEY THE CONSTITUTION"... because THE CONSTITUTION IS THE LAW OF THE LAND".
Lawless crowds in Ferguson are saying the opposite. Violent anti-government blacks are saying, "WE CAN BURN DOWN BUILDINGS AND DESTROY PROPERTY BECAUSE WE'RE ABOVE THE LAW". That's the REAL anti-government message.
Homeland Security, FBI and the vile Southern Poverty Law Center need to take a look at this and see it for what it is... and the New York Times, LA Times, and Washington Post need to open their damn eyes too.
Me too, militarized police = occupation army. Which, of course, is exactly what the oligarchy wants.
GOPJ, you’re spot-on.
Your solution is good. It’s the putting into practice of it - the people themselves demanding it - that needs to happen, and there is not enough responsible leadership to make it so.
But it won’t happen, because too much “use” can be made of the situation as it stands by a few really unscrupulous people. You have the Sharptons, Jesses, and others that profit from the chaos and make a living off it.
Who is offering the information that you share with me? A friend of the “kid’s”? What makes him so eminently credible as a witness?
That’s where I’ve been getting a lot of my information. I love that blog.
“...pseudo soldier cops will scurry...”
We get to THAT point, and it’ll be a lot more than “pseudo” we have to worry about.
We should be doing EVERYTHING in our power to PREVENT it from getting to that point.
First step is removing the military hardware from general use. This is civilian law enforcement, not Mosul. That gear used to be the exception, rather than the rule. The cops need to take steps to de-escalate the tensions within the communities. And like it or not, seeing cops walking around in BDUs with auto weapons creates tension. Every encounter now turns potentially lethal for the citizen.
Lose the bloused BDUs, combat boots, M4 carbines, Kevlar helmets, Level III body armor, MRAPs, etc., and go back to being Peace Officers. Save that crap for really violent incident response, not serving a warrent for unpaid traffic tickets.
Two guys rob a bank with auto weapons and body armor - yeah, turn it loose. A no-knock flash bang raid on Joe Bumble’s house because he hasn’t paid his child support to his baby mama - not so much.
How about cops that actually LIVE in the communities they work in - so they KNOW the people in the neighborhood, and the people know them?
Instead of having kids growing up resenting “the Cops”, they know it’s Officer Smith from around the corner, and he knows mom and dad, they know him and HIS kids, etc.
There’s solutions to things, when people look hard enough - or when they really WANT a solution, at any rate.
Point is over your head.
Natural incentives are beautiful because they work. In time the black community would change from being out of control teenagers to being adults who understand 'the rules' aren't there because their mean parents 'don't understand' but because they work.
In a fairly short period of time black residents would recreate healthy police departments - and NOT be rebelling against them.
Nothing like paying your own bills to see why the rules exist...
“...In time the black community would change ...”
Any community would.
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