It’s about BOTH….to deny EITHER is to have one’s head in the sand. It’s about both, and it’s also about big government control. But yes, some of it is needed.
How would they view this if a conservative was president? I think we all know the condemnation would be flying.
Any time a purported conservative defends Obama’s actions is the time that those credentials are revoked.
BTW, when did the Boston Globe take over Breitbart?
Round up the commie types, send them to Gitmo’ and put them in Cuba, outside the fence.
Keep the peace = keep the sheeple in a neutered/tame phase.
Prank SWAT phone calls, and SWAT team show up at wrong address.
Just some things to think about.
SWAT was created for monumental situations. I would accept SWAT at a riot with looting. That’s what its for. But this guy who wrote the article has his head up his arse for the most part.
The cops do use this stuff on a daily basis and and they misuse it on a daily basis. Its caused a sea change in their attitude toward the public also. Now they view themselves as warriors not public servants. Prime example is the cops willy nilly arresting and tear gassing the legitimatge media who were lawfully covering the event. Its gotten way out of hand.
it’s about a heck of a lot more than the equipment. It is about the development of a fascist state- a military dictatorship where the police are no longer tasked with protecting and serving thheir local communities but, rather, with imposing the will of an increasingly totalitarian and un-American government. If nothing is done to stunt its growth and development, it will most certainly grow and develop into a freedom devouring monster.
Uh huh.
First big fat lie in the article: the old trope that policing is a dangerous job. What nonsense. It’s not even in the top ten most dangerous jobs in the US. A farmer, a fisherman, or a coal miner is exponentially more likely to be killed at work than a cop.
Second, the writer gives the game away when he says that body armor and gun turrets are only meant to “intimidate” the bad guys into seeing they don’t have a chance. The problem is that mindset becomes PERMANENT, and we’re all treated as bad guys. A cop’s job is not to intimidate me at a traffic stop by lifting weights , taking steroids, shaving his head, and screaming contradictory “orders” that will result in a tasing for “non-compliance.” The mindset engenders the idea that he doesn’t work for me, the citizen — he is exercising military control over the enemy.
The delusions of Seal Team Six grandeur, along with issuing military hardware to non-soldiers, have got to stop.
Oh, and CAMO outfits in Ferguson? Please. You’re just embarrassing yourselves.
The USConstitution prohibits a standing army. Police that are dressed, equipped and act like the military, are military. Policing is a civil activity not a military activity. If policemen are afraid of getting injured, if they dress, equip and act like mere policemen, then they _really_ need a new job.
Sometimes it seems like these SWAT teams operate with rules of engagement that are less strict than the ROEs that our soldiers fighting the Taliban have to follow. They need to be kept on a very short leash.
I have no doubt they have saved many lives over the years, but they also manage to screw up regularly, or so it seems.
The equipment is merely a means to an end. The real evil here is the police state mindset that our nation has become. The establishment of DHS was the single most destructive blow to our constitutional liberties for the sake of “security”. That watershed change in law enforcement as a national security arm has now percolated down to the local dog catcher.
All this militarization of police and loss of freedom was done to PROTECT US FROM TERRORISM. We wanted the govt to save us.............................
What a bunch of tripe. So according to the author, if I don’t have any personal anecdotal evidence of misuse by the police; my concerns are null and void?
***Militarization of police forces has become the latest buzz phrase for politicians,***
I saw an old Paul Muni movie last week about a strike in a coal mine.
The owners contract with a private security firm and they want the uniformed enforcers on Horseback as the crowds feared a man on horseback. “It’s something they brought over from the OLD COUNTRY!”
Now they come with MRAPs.
WE were warned of an attempt to establish a FEDERAL POLICE FORCE clear back in 1970.
Now it is here, complete with military armor.