The “militarization” of police was not only inevitable, but necessary

Hot Air ^ | August 16, 2014 | Jazz Shaw

[Yardstick]

I thought we were doomed. You know, SHTF and all that.

Are you saying that conservatives might actually be able to get things back on track by working through the political system?

[kiryandil]

And speaking of naiveté:

Let's see - they rolled an MRAP & 2 Bearcats to chase a guy down a two-track 70 miles away from me, which is CLOSE, where I'm at.

They rolled a Commander 6x6x6 to intimidate a PTSD veteran in my town this spring. They were in training with their toy 500 miles away, but hey! - it's on YOUR dime, peasant!

[Lurker]

“BS. The lawlessness of the people dictates how they are equipped.”

Hey a**hole. They work for us. We pay their salaries. We pay for their gear. We are in f****** charge of what they get, when they get it, and how they get to use it. If you don’t like that, turn in your gear and go sell insurance somewhere.

[JRandomFreeper]

I've always worked through the political system first.

You can't just start hanging the bastards, regardless of how much they need it.

You save that for later... like dessert.

First you sit through the budget hearings.

Doesn't keep me from having over a mile of rope in storage, and the location of every local lamp-post marked on a big map.

Prepping is important. You never did understand preppers, and had preconceived ideas about them.

/johnny

[Lurker]

Ping to 183.

[kiryandil]

My point is that it is not being used for day to day operations. It is being used when there is a predictable threat that rises above normal operations.

Wrong. In the two instances I cited, they used the armor BECAUSE THEY HAD IT.

For instance, they didn't need to chase the guy up the two-track with armor.

And they could have rolled one of the Bearcats from 70 miles away instead of driving a Commander 500 miles on the taxpayer dime...

[JRandomFreeper]

Don't see any reason to be rude on a thread that's been fairly reasonable.

/johnny

[Zhang Fei]

To do an honest comparison you’d have to find a location that has few drug users and also not in the middle of an illegal immigration alley. Where that would be I have no idea.

San Diego is and has almost always been safer than NYC, which is thousands of miles from the Rio Grande. The principal reason is that it has very few blacks, who account for almost half of all crime, on a nation-wide basis. On an age-adjusted per capita basis, Hispanics account for roughly 2.5x as much crime as whites. Blacks account for 6.5x:

Sentenced male prisoners under state or federal jurisdiction, December 31, 2008
	White non-Hispanic	Black non-Hispanic	Hispanic
	Number
Total—all ages	477,500	562,800	295,000
Ages 25-29	66,000	102,800	60,000
Ages 30-34	70,700	96,800	54,400
Ages 35-39	75,200	90,500	45,900
	Rate per 100,000 U.S. residents
Total—all ages	487	3,161	1,200
Ages 25-29	1,017	7,130	2,612
Ages 30-34	1,217	8,032	2,411
Ages 35-39	1,171	7,392	2,263
Data Source: BJS, “Prisoners in 2008,” December 2009. Appendix Tables 13 and 14 Note: Imprisonment rates are per residents in each population group.

[JRandomFreeper]

Because I can be rude and obnoxious... ;)

/johnny

[Yardstick]

I think I understand peppers pretty well. Most have accepted the premise that the country is beyond the point of no return. This is glaringly obvious. I understand the sentiment but disagree with it, and loathe it.

[Yardstick]

Peppers = preppers

[MaxMax]

SWAT teams breaking in doors for non-violent crimes is not Policing, it's
tyrannical and All Americans are responsible in stopping this insanity.
It's our American duty to stop tyranny. Our forefathers died to keep
it off our shores.

[JRandomFreeper]

San Diego is and has almost always been safer than NYCv

There's a frigging ringing endorsement, if I ever heard one.

Bugtussle, Iowa is probably safer than either.

Or any random town in Arizona.

You are cherry-picking your data.

/johnny

[Lurker]

You should see me when I decide to be rude. On second thought... LOL

[Yogafist]

Well that shouldn’t be a problem. If you have your own city you should be able to make the rules.

[JRandomFreeper]

That's because you are an idiot. You make assumptions that are unwarranted.

Preparing, in this case, means going to the effort to go to budget hearings.

Do you get that? I'm preparing by avoiding and expending the effort to go to budget hearings to stop my local PD from getting military equipment.

That they morally shouldn't have anyway.

/johnny

[TomasUSMC]

GOOD NUMBERS BUT SOOOO RACIST.

Why not be pc and change the numbers a bit, well a whole lot or better yet, destroy the hard drive.

[JRandomFreeper]

It's my city because I live here. And I'll go to the meetings.

Understand that I am in no way obligated for their unfunded liabilities...Not 'my city' in that kind of way.

I don't own it.

/johnny

[Yardstick]

Uh yeah, right. As if going to budget hearings means prepping in the minds of most preppers.

Please try to at least fake being honest.

[2ndDivisionVet]

"How then shall we perform it?--At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?-- Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never!--All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

Abraham Lincoln, Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois, January 27, 1838

William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner, describes the event this way: "we had a society in Springfield, which contained and commanded all the culture and talent of the place. Unlike the other one its meetings were public, and reflected great credit on the community ... The speech was brought out by the burning in St. Louis a few weeks before, by a mob, of a negro. Lincoln took this incident as a sort of text for his remarks ... The address was published in the Sangamon Journal and created for the young orator a reputation which soon extended beyond the limits of the locality in which he lived."