Posted on 08/18/2014 4:40:21 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
President Obama opened the door Monday to reevaluating a massive Defense Department program that sends military equipment to local police forces, in the wake of concerns about the St. Louis Police Department's response to riots and protests in Ferguson, Mo.
"There is a big difference between our military and our local law enforcement, and we don't want those lines blurred," Obama said.
The president spoke at the White House briefing room late Monday, during a pause in the capital from his vacation in Martha's Vineyard. As he has before, Obama walked a fine line in addressing the sustained violence and unrest in the St. Louis suburb over the killing of an unarmed black man by a police officer.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Chalk me up as...Disagree.
At least in urban and heavily minority areas it is. These zones of government dependency are powder kegs caused by the misery and soul/family destroying handout mentality.
Conservatives have different opinions on this "militarization" issue, but this Ferguson situation has nothing to do with it. These blacks are not rioting, looting and burning down their own neighborhoods because of some "militarization" problem. If anything, these thugs and criminals have proven that police, at least in certain areas, needs as much firepower as possible.
I must have missed the tank used by officer Wilson.
It only took the first post on this thread to summarize what Obama is thinking.
I remember Obobo saying he wanted a domestic army as powerful as the real army.
Along with the weapons, military costumes, shaved heads, steroids and tacticool gear comes a mindset of war. In many cases war without anywhere nearly as strict rules of engagement that our real troops had to work under. When cops unload 40 or more rounds into a suspect for a minor offence, that would get them charged with war crimes on a battlefield. I’m not talking about Ferguson but in general. It’s changed. It’s an “us against them” mentality and guess what, we’re “them.”
for a police state.
No, it is not.
Give me some examples where our police need to be armed like the military. You know, full auto submachine guns, full auto m16s, squad operated machine guns, grenades, rockets, armored personnel carriers, tanks, large bore explosive projectile firing cannons, stealth bombers, MOABs etc. Draw the line wherever you “feel” justified.
To what end? Is it the fear that our communities could end up like Mexican ones which are controlled by gangs that outgun the police by a wide ratio? Sorry but let me off at the next stop
.watching an arms race on a global scale is bad enough and I dont think that I want to have one in my backyard. And yes, I'm one of those who was pretty sickened by the suspension of civil liberties in Boston. I just came from vacationing on an island that had about 300 people on it and no police. In fact, its been a year since the police last set foot in the place. Just the unspoken understanding that if everyone behaves themselves, the police will never have a reason to come there is enough of an incentive to make things run harmoniously and without conflict. No doubt the citizens broke many trivial laws as they went about their business
. but overall, this was both the best policed and the place with the greatest freedom that I think that Ive ever visited.
Military gear aside, perhaps some of those funds should have gone to dash cams.
It was the police response to the riots when they brought out the military hardware.
We must be around the same age.
When we were kids our parents told us that if we are ever lost, or out somewhere and were in some kind of trouble, to find a policeman, and they would make sure you got home okay. It really used to be that way. God, how I miss the America of those days, when life was so much simpler, and good was good and evil was evil, and the lines did not merge.
“We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set,” Obama said. “We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/10/remember_obamas_civilian_national_security_force.html
For the implementation of a police state.
Obama and other anti-gun crzies will morph this issue into another attempt to impose stricter gun control on the country.
We should also give them Apaches and Aircraft Carriers.
And the riots had already started and would have continued with or without the military hardware. It’s purely an excuse to justify their lawlessness, just like they will riot tonight that the curfew has been lifted.
The little thugs have won the street wars. Now come the big thugs who will carry that victory to city hall the courts and Congress. And who’s going to stop them?
We’ve set quite a precedent with this surrender - and we’ll be paying a heavy price.
I think that if you look at the comments on this thread and most others, you'll find that those who support the militarization of the police far outnumber those who do not.
The gestalt of the attitude towards the police has changed a lot in the past decade or so here on FR. Our antipathy has been earned by the powers that be. Some of us have had our eyes open to the danger longer than others. For some, it will apparently take the boot kicking in their door at 3AM by some roided up soldier wannabe's who can't even bother to double check an address.
Others who get that friendly smashing of the door may well be the target of a liberal with a grudge who has decided to call in an 'anonymous tip' of an evil drug dealer.
From my observations, some of the strongest supporters of the police state have a vested interest in it.
True, in the end, it makes you a K-Mart.
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