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

Hot Air ^ | August 16, 2014 | Jazz Shaw

[2ndDivisionVet]

The rioting, protests and controversy continue to swirl around Ferguson this weekend, and you will no doubt be reading plenty of coverage from both sides about it. But in the background, a disturbing, larger national conversation has erupted out of the troubles in the St. Louis suburb. The hot topic everywhere seems to be a growing call to halt the so called “militarization” of the nation’s civilian police forces, highlighted by the riot suppression gear on display in Ferguson. It’s an argument coming from both sides of the ideological spectrum, too.

The IBD editorial board warns us to “beware” of this trend. John Fund, writing at National Review, worries over not just police, but a host of federal agencies being armed to the teeth. Bob Barr sounds the alarm as to how the psyche of our police must become warped when they are equipped like soldiers. Our own Noah Rothman has written thoughtfully on the subject, expressing some of his own concerns.

Frankly, I find the whole discussion to be a rather rapid rush to judgement and lacking in larger context. As far as the specific incidents in Ferguson go, we still need a lot more information before final conclusions can be drawn. The details of the initial shooting may remain in question, but what followed was well documented. Riots and looting broke out on a massive scale for such a small town, and continue this morning. The local police stood on the edge of being completely overwhelmed. And whether or not you find their level of response appropriate, this one local disturbance has turned into a national demand to defang the police. The Washington Post quickly began issuing advice on how to tame the cops. Clearly the nation’s legislators were listening, as Hank Johnson (D – Georgia) has already drafted legislation to do just that.

Am I the only one who finds this rather insulting to the nation’s first responders in general? Even if we are to assume that the Ferguson police crossed a line in breaking out their heaviest equipment in an attempt to reestablish control (which has not been conclusively proven at all, in my opinion), what of the rest of the country? As these critics frequently note, police departments in cities and towns of all sizes have been equipped with more modern, military style equipment for quite some time now and they don’t seem to be converting the rest of the nation into a series of oppressive death camps. And far too often, the cops find themselves in need of the “big guns” and body armor.

In case you think I’m coming in late to this debate, it’s not true. There was apparently a meeting held at some point in which Radley Balko was appointed as the go to guy for such discussions, but that dates back quite a ways. More than a year ago, Balko was pushing his ideas about so called “warrior cops” and at that time I penned an editorial stating that he was going too far.

Do we need “kinder and gentler” cops interacting with the community in a friendly fashion? It is certainly to the benefit of the police to be in good standing with a cooperative community and to know the people they protect and serve, but they also deserve a fighting chance when the situation suddenly turns violent and ugly. The rise of “warrior cops” may not be what everyone would hope for, but I don’t see any realistic alternatives.

While I both understand and sympathize with the reminiscing for the good old days, the times have changed. The era of the lovable flatfoot, twirling his baton and wagging a finger at the precocious kid about to steal some penny candy has passed us by. Have we collectively forgotten the riots that took place following the Rodney King verdict? How about the now infamous North Hollywood shootout? And for our friends on the Left, what about the next time somebody goes into an elementary school armed with a Bushmaster and a couple of 9mm Glocks? You don’t want us arming the teachers or having local residents open carrying to keep the school grounds safe. “Leave it to the cops,” you say. But should the cops be going into a situation like that with nothing more than a layer of cotton uniform and a revolver to protect themselves and take down the bad guys? Or should they have to wait until a SWAT unit from an “appropriately large city” shows up, with the shooter mowing down third graders in the meantime?

While the shooting of Michael Brown may provide a teachable moment in terms of police interactions with the community, the nearly immediate mayhem which followed should also serve as a timely reminder. The old assumptions of law enforcement and their unwritten compact with the citizenry relied on a society where the police – and the laws – were respected, and criminals were a minority who would be rejected by the rank and file residents. But when the majority of an entire community decides to break that compact, the formula changes. They realize that they outnumber – and frequently outgun – the cops. A slumbering, snarling beast is awakened and in short order the police can find themselves on the run. This is not a formula for freedom of speech… it’s the path to mayhem and the breakdown of civil society. Before you’re too quick to demand the “demilitarization” of the police, you might want to remember who it is that stands between the neighborhood you have now and South Central L.A circa 1992. And Ferguson has shown us that you don’t need a huge metropolitan area for it to happen.

[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."