darthtang aw
Active Member
Going back to the militarization of the police discussion. What exactly is making them militarized? Basically i disagree with this assessment.
A good read ---> Rise Of The Warrior Cop.Darth, I think the point is that police departments are receiving surplus military gear. Some are perceiving this as Abrams tanks and Apache helicopters , But in some cases it does appear that a few police departments are a bit over geared, I can agree with that.
How so? Does your Police force have an Mrap?An MRAP for my local village police would be an example of overgeared.
Define police raids.....also, does this not say something about the society of Today rather than the over arming of Officers?A good read ---> Rise Of The Warrior Cop.
We've gone from a being a nation that conducted a couple of thousand of tactical raids on U.S. civilians a year to a nation that now conducts upwards of 70,000 police raids a year.
The vast majority are non violent drug offenders.
Law enforcement positions (especially in urban areas) are increasingly being filled with ex military war vets who tend to be over aggressive and have hair triggers.
There is no shortage of reports highlighting abuse and miss use of force in these instances.
My guess is that this contributes to the hysteria.
It speaks volumes about society and the mindset of the people in it, yes.Define police raids.....also, does this not say something about the society of Today rather than the over arming of Officers?
No. They're smart enough to know it's not needed. What would it do for the Village of Warsaw other than consume taxpayer money?How so? Does your Police force have an Mrap?
One paragraph out of all of that addresses the "militarization" of police forces. And only to a small degree. You have yet to show specifics of militarized police and what equipment is exactly fitting your perception of militarization.It speaks volumes about society and the mindset of the people in it, yes.
Raids. Heavily armed teams of law enforcement now being used to serve warrants for all sorts of infractions. The least of which are actually going after violent offenders.
Some simple Google searches will yield many instances of police breaking into the wrong homes all together. Dragging innocent people out of their homes half naked into the street. Tactical weapons trained at their heads. Family dog needlessly shot. And even innocent home owners being killed trying to protect themselves.
How about that story Lisa Ling did on the college kid who got raided for selling pot to his friends. And when he couldn't turn over any major dealers because he didn't know any was blackmailed by law enforcement to find some by turning him into an informant and go out of his way to find a major dealer?
Yes, people are angry about the use and abuse. It isn't just senseless paranoia. In which case I'd have to ask who's more fearful, law enforcement who is continually ramping up their arsenals or the citizens seeing their 4th amendment rights being raped?
Aside from the flash grenades, m16' s and armored carriers there's more to "militarization" than just the equipment that is being employed on our streets.One paragraph out of all of that addresses the "militarization" of police forces. And only to a small degree. You have yet to show specifics of militarized police and what equipment is exactly fitting your perception of militarization.
The equipment you list, Legal law abiding citizens are able to own. Yet the police acquire them and suddenly they are "militarized". You have sat on this site defending the second amendment, stating law abiding citizens should maintain the right to own such things...then begrudge the very institution set up to protect the local populace for owning the same thing. And yes, I know a person with not one but two decommissioned armored personnel carriers..Aside from the flash grenades, m16' s and armored carriers there's more to "militarization" than just the equipment that is being employed on our streets.
This has more to do with the SWAT and Narcotics enforcement teams than it does your average LEO out there writing tickets all day.
These guys are all trained by the military at military installations.
Couple that with policy behind our war on drugs, war on crime etc and you can begin to see the mentality that these guys operate with when they have a pre disposition to view citizens (potential wrong doers) as the enemy. And less as citizens who are innocent until proven guilty by our justice system.
The collateral damage that been caused from our increasingly relentless pursuit against non violent offenders IMO doesn't justify the results of the policies we've implemented.
In essence the more you try to force and control somethings the worse they get.