JasonC SBB

http://www.salon.com/2013/07/07/%E2%...ut_of_control/

SWAT-like raids of piddly "offenses" like selling raw milk and $100 sports bets.

Seems to be a disturbing trend towards "militarization" of cops. The old days had neighborhood beat cops with the blue uniforms and leather shoes. These days they will often wear fatigues and combat boots.

And then there is the use of military surplus equipment via a DHS program:
The Pentagon Is Offering Free Military Hardware To Every Police Department In The US - Business Insider

And the strings attached, resulting in centralization of control over local PD's:
Militarizing the U.S. Police
Police Consolidation: The End of Local Law Enforcement?

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

All those people deserve their dogs to be shot in those raids.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

Mindblown:

Boston Police Officer Arrested In Plymouth For Possession Of Military Grade Explosives « CBS Boston

Enginerd

iTrader: (1)

Interesting. A civilian would have been charged with terrorism plotting and thrown in Guantanamo without bail.

thirdgen

iTrader: (26)

I hope they're betting on dog fights.

gearhead_318

iTrader: (1)

Combat boots!?!? On noes!

JasonC SBB

JasonC SBB

Cops use "No More Hesitation" targets:
Is Your Local Police Department Using Pictures of Pregnant Women and Children for Target Practice? - Hit & Run : Reason.com

thasac

iTrader: (3)

Based on your posts, I'm surprised you even 'risk' a network connection ... or are your using the public library?


-Zach

JasonC SBB

? Why should I be afraid? I'm not advocating violence against anyone.

mgtmse01

at the risk of being flamed i will say this...
gangs like the ms13, the zetas, the mm and sur 13 carry more firepower than the police and became necessary to arm the cops to the same level or better than aforementioned dirtbags.
with that said, i disagree with the use of swat for low risk, bullcrap arrests.
i also disagree with the so called "no hesitation" targets. although most cops hesitate to shoot even when they are justified to do so.
ok...flame away...

Scrappy Jack

iTrader: (2)

I think most of those are valid points, as long as you are talking about people. They do not hesitate to shoot dogs (and wouldn't hesitate to shoot cats if cats felt any sort of loyalty or protective instinct toward their humans).

Your first point, of course, could lead to why decriminalizing and legalization of most drugs would be the best course of action. Do you know when police forces and Federal law enforcement first started acquiring firepower heavier than revolvers and shotguns? I would put money on it being about the same time bootleggers and the organized crime involved in alcohol smuggling during Prohibition started outgunning them.

See:

A) above regarding failures of drug prohibition
B) the rise of the suburbs and urban sprawl
C) the advent of the police cruiser as mobile command platform
D) your article regarding the recomissioning of military grade equipment that is left over from the wars in the Middle East

JasonC SBB

Yup, war on drugs' top lobbyists:

- police unions
- prison guard unions
- Big Pharma
- Big Alcohol
- Big Tobacco

Portugal de-criminalized drugs and usage went down, and costs plummeted.

The War on Drugs is more immoral than drug use:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/...ug-use/274651/

mgtmse01

i agree regarding the war on drugs. as a mater of fact i believe all victimless crime ought to be abolished. i have to say though...that even though the FBI of the prohibition days did in fact arm up to fight the mob, the majority of the country has pretty much always lagged behind the criminals in terms of firepower. its a change i have personally observed over the course of many years and several departments on the east coast.

police cruisers as command platforms...they dont really make cops more military, it just makes their life easier and allows them to respond quicker when called with better more accurate information.

lately there has been a movement to harass cops and make them look like idiots and post the videos on youtube and that is just shitty. a small amount of cops abuse their authority. most of them are good decent people who truly care about the community in which they work. the feds have been the ones overstepping their authority beginning with the creation of dhs. the bulk of the police militarization has occurred in the fed police community and "pushed" upon local departments....

let me end my comment with this...the cops need certain equipment and tools to do their job which is supposed to benefit us by making them more efficient...the m4 and level 4 armour is a necessity considering the firepower they are up against these days...the dhs and feds abuse authority and local cops catch the crap that rolls down hill because they wear a badge too...

oh and jason...i agree the lobby groups need to go away starting with police unions.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

ftfy.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

TSA searches valet parked car | www.WHEC.com

I don't work for TSA anymore, so I can be more critical...

Scrappy Jack

iTrader: (2)

My point about the cruisers was in reference to the picture Jason posted of the old "beat cop" vs the new Cop Commando. With the advent of technology + the increase in urban sprawl (and/or spread of suburbs), cops started using the cars more and more. Instead of "walking a beat" where they might see and interact with the same residents on a regular basis in a non-confrontational manner, cops started spending all of their time with each other in their cars.

Practically the only time a normal person interacts with a cop these days is in a confrontational manner - like getting pulled over for revenue generation or "harrassed" for being somewhere the cop has decided they shouldn't be. Because the cops spend all of their time with each other unless they are targeting a suspect, and civillians only interact with cops in a negative fashion, it reinforces the "us against them" mentality.

Cops start to view all civillians as "suspects until proven innocent" and civillians start to view all cops as "thugs until proven innocent."

I know some cities have reinstated walking a beat and some never stopped it. All of the above is speaking in generalities but should help clarify my point about cop cars being part of the transformation from "Officer Friendly" to "Operator Hardass."

I'm not sure I agree with this, but if it were the case, I would agree it's shitty. Most of the things I've seen - and, granted, I generally don't watch linked videos - have been catching cops going overboard in terms of violence or unreasonable harassment over petty traffic violations.

I think you and I are in general agreement here: the SWAT guys should have all of the high-end gear they might need BUT those SWAT guys should only be used for actual high-level situations.

mgtmse01

what did you do for the TSA? and stupid question, what does "ftfy" mean? im not exactly familiar with all the internet shorthand

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

I was a contractor on their HR program. Worlds apart from the "law enforcement" side of things.

mgtmse01

editing something and putting my name to it does not make it mine

so what you are saying is that its ok to purposefully do something to get pulled over, then while the cop is trying to do his job and investigate the traffic offense that he stopped you for; you are uncooperative, a smart *** and you film it and put it on youtube playing it out as you are being harassed by the cop...you are saying that is the right thing to do and everyone should do it because its standing up for your rights...is that what you are saying?

im all about standing up for your rights but doing the above is a dick move.