we have some people here on FR who do not like the militarization of the police. It’s necessary.
Dressing like a soldier doesn't make you a soldier.
It sure as shit is not necessary for what used to be run-of-the-mill serving of warrants and such. Now it's almost SOP to have a SWAT team do this stuff.
It is only “necessary” if you want to conduct a war on the people. Such as a “War on Drugs”.
You wouldn’t thick was necessary if you were a Labrador.
I would disagree with the belief that it is necessary.
SWAT teams are necessary in cases of desperate or hardened criminals who are doing harm or threatening lives, but their use against the citizens for even minor offences is not necessary.
“we have some people here on FR who do not like the militarization of the police. It’s necessary.”
Sorry to burst your bubble BunnySlippers, but more whites (numerically) distrust the police than blacks.
I recently had a conversation with fireman at our local block party. I said to the oldest: “you guys must be the only public servants that don’t carry guns”.
He responded; “They tried to get us to, but we said no...” “We get along well with the people and we want to keep it that way”.
When I was growing up in the fifties and sixties, it was the same with police. Now it’s changed...
I disagree and I think many on FR would side with me. Too often small-town police departments get things such as military vehicles that they just won't be able to maintain. They will die a slow death from lack of use and lack of maintenance.
There’s many of us, if not most. Swat teams are necessary. We have military tactics for a variety of run of the mill activities like warrants and minor arrests. One can argue many of the actions in ferguson are legitimate, and most likely are. The officers there, however are armed as much or more than our guys in bagdahd and that is wholly inappropriate in our own soil. We have the 4th amendment being thrown by the wayside in this country as seen in Boston last year. We saw the bureau of land management bring similar tactics to someone accused of tax evasion in Nevada. All this adds up to a lot of bad news. Just because this case in Missouri includes a lot of people behaving abhorrently, and in need of strong a response, it doesn’t make it any better to bring in this display.
We aren’t going to be able to stop the proliferation of the military weapons to local police forces.
It’s important, however, to change those things we can, and in this case one thing to change is our perception of those weapons.
We need to begin thinking of them as resources for our side, resources being maintained and fueled for us to use when they are needed.
Why do you think it's necessary?
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.
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 don’t 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, it’s 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 I’ve ever visited.
For the implementation of a police state.
We should also give them Apaches and Aircraft Carriers.
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.