Handing out “military equipment” doesn’t militarize the police if the police aren’t trained to use it as a military force.
Which Army base are local cops “militarized” at?
Because you take away the “military equipment” the cops would still use the same tactics.
This “militarizing of police” is a red herring until you can tell me which military base all local cops are indoctrinated & trained at to be a military army.
I live in a Nashville suburb and I have seven police types from undercover narc to uniformed SGT and warrant LT for nearby neighbors, and; all tell me over 90 percent of the metro cops are Army reserve.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smqZ108ZwAo
Here is one example. If you want more, do your own Google-fu.
APf
So we have gone from a squad car to MRAP’s, .38spls. and 9mm to full auto MP5’s and M16’s and full military attire, with military tactics but you see no militarization whatsoever?
The military’s job is to kill people and break things and when police start adopting those tactics the results are self-evident and we are witnessing them with collateral damage to anyone who happens to be nearby when a military style raid goes down. Is it the polices job to kill all criminals or to arrest them? Yes they have to kill at times I understand that, but with military training are they not taught to kill the target quickly and efficiently as possible? How is that philosophy conducive with law enforcement?
What’s next drones with hellfire missile strikes on citizens homes? You may laugh but why is this any different that what you are defending, it is military equipment and tactics in action.
I am all for law and order, to protect and serve all citizens and to treat them with respect. Right now I am not seeing a lot of respect for citizens in many cases, but the Us vs. Them attitude. When you treat all citizens as perps eventually they will become a perp voluntarily or involuntarily. Seriously why would anyone want a police officer around if they knew they were being scrutinized for every word, action or deed in their presence?
If I wanted to live in a police state I would move to North Korea and sadly my country is become a monstrous police state the Stasi would envy.
This is your opinion. The news and the lady who wrote the book on this subject that has the media talking wrote about the EQUIPMENT. No one is saying they are trained as an entire unit much less by the military. Special units such as SWAT train as a unit. No the military does not train them. I know many retired SF types who could train anyone with basic military skills to be very effective.