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And when people decide to express their "outrage" by the looting, burning and destruction of private property, they're shooting themselves in the foot.
They are not suppose to have the best equipment available? Is it because they are "scary" looking with the equipment? I see knee protection, helmets, gas mask, functional utility uniform though the pattern could be different, guns because something needs to fire sandbags and rubber bullets, and a protective vest because the protesters may have weapons as it was proven with the shootings that happened.
So, what is wrong with the police having things to protect themselves?
The police are not the military, police don't need armored personal carriers like a town here in Arizona, population of 25,000 has. They don't need military technology for police work. The more they load up, the more hostile regular citizens become.
Notice how the crowds instantly calmed down and people relaxed when Johnson pulled the commando squads back and simply relied on regular, old fashioned police work and community relations rather than a show of force featuring absurdly armed police looking like they're prepared for war.
There's a reason why we have Posse Comitatus, we don't need the police becoming an internal military, that's not their job and the laws need to be changed to prevent them from acquiring heavy duty military weaponry that was never meant for police use. Police in other nations do perfectly well with suitably less gear and military equipment. If you've got a high risk situation to defuse, so be it, but most of the time out here, the SWAT teams are out and about serving warrants on non-violent drug offenders. Its gone too far and needs to be reigned back.
Ferguson is a perfect example of what was described in this column:
The more the police fail to defuse confrontations but instead help create them — be it with their equipment, tactics or demeanor — the more ties with community members are burned, he said. The effect is a loss of civility, and an erosion of constitutional rights, rather than a building of good will. “What is most worrisome to us is that the line that has traditionally separated the military from civilian policing is fading away,” Mr. Lynch said. “We see it as one of the most disturbing trends in the criminal justice area — the militarization of police tactics.”
Police can't act like the military, the more they do, the more people will distrust them and refuse to deal with them.
The police should have at least equal gear to civilians. As to an MRAP? It's for moving cover. Sure Is nice to have something like that in the case of a public shooter. The bell tower shooter for example. Easier to get to victims using the MRAP as moving cover and evac. Lots of good.
While serving as a U.S. Marine on patrol in Afghanistan, we wore desert camouflage to blend in with our surroundings, carried rifles to shoot back when under enemy attack, and drove around in armored vehicles to ward off roadside bombs. We looked intimidating, but all of our vehicles and equipment had a clear purpose for combat against enemy forces. So why is this same gear being used on our city streets?
On Saturday, a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown, an unarmed black man. In the days that have followed, the town with a population of about 21,000 has seen massive protests in response to the shooting, as some witnesses said Brown had his hands up when he was killed.
Putting aside what started the protests for a moment, it's worth discussing the police response to the outrage. In photos taken Monday, we are shown a heavily armed SWAT team. They have short-barreled 5.56-mm rifles based on the military M4 carbine, with scopes that can accurately hit a target out to 500 meters. On their side they carry pistols. On their front, over their body armor, they carry at least four to six extra magazines, loaded with 30 rounds each.
In Afghanistan, we patrolled in big, armored trucks. We wore uniforms that conveyed the message, "We are a military force, and we are in control right now." Many Afghans saw us as occupiers. And now we see some of our police officers in this same way. "The militarization of law enforcement is counter-productive to domestic policing and needs to stop," tweeted Andrew Exum, a former Army infantry officer.
Quote:
Why armored vehicles in a Midwestern inner suburb? Why would cops wear camouflage gear against a terrain patterned by convenience stores and beauty parlors? Why are the authorities in Ferguson, Mo. so given to quasi-martial crowd control methods (such as bans on walking on the street) and, per the reporting of Riverfront Times, the firing of tear gas at people in their own yards? (“ ‘This my property!’ he shouted, prompting police to fire a tear gas canister directly at his face.”)
The police should have at least equal gear to civilians. As to an MRAP? It's for moving cover. Sure Is nice to have something like that in the case of a public shooter. The bell tower shooter for example. Easier to get to victims using the MRAP as moving cover and evac. Lots of good.
Which they've always had. However because of the various requisition programs, even small police departments are now requesting heavy duty military equipment and to justify it, are having to send SWAT teams and heavily armed response units on more and more menial tasks, increasing the potential loss of life.
We saw that in Tucson when a heavily armed SWAT team burst into the home of a Marine veteran and unloaded hundreds of rounds into his home, even though it later turned out that he had no personal connection to the person that they were looking for. They could have easily picked the guy up on his way to work if they wanted to contact him, instead they gunned the guy down inside his own home, claiming that he had fired at them when in fact it was a SWAT officer that bumped into a wall that caused them all to think that they were being shot at.
What was the SWAT team's response? First they lied about the Marine shooting at them, when the evidence showed that he hadn't fired a single round, they basically threw up their hands and said "oops, **** happens." Just like that, a father and a husband is dead and gone. Oops.
What is the problem with police equipped as effectively as civilians? I'm missing it.
Since when are civilians running around with fully automatic weapons, driving armored vehicles....? This isn't Iraq, if police officers can't handle not gearing up like the military, they need to GTFO and go find a new line of work. If you want to be a soldier, go be a soldier, but the rash of shootings and violence we've seen from police officers that seem to fire first and think second has gotten rather old.
Military tactics are not meant for policing a domestic population. Not if the police want to encourage cooperation from the general population which is so vital to solving crimes. These sorts of tactics turn off the population. Ferguson is a perfect example. Johnson used common sense policing measures and people calmed down and backed off.
Which they've always had. However because of the various requisition programs, even small police departments are now requesting heavy duty military equipment and to justify it, are having to send SWAT teams and heavily armed response units on more and more menial tasks, increasing the potential loss of life.
We saw that in Tucson when a heavily armed SWAT team burst into the home of a Marine veteran and unloaded hundreds of rounds into his home, even though it later turned out that he had no personal connection to the person that they were looking for. They could have easily picked the guy up on his way to work if they wanted to contact him, instead they gunned the guy down inside his own home, claiming that he had fired at them when in fact it was a SWAT officer that bumped into a wall that caused them all to think that they were being shot at.
What was the SWAT team's response? First they lied about the Marine shooting at them, when the evidence showed that he hadn't fired a single round, they basically threw up their hands and said "oops, **** happens." Just like that, a father and a husband is dead and gone. Oops.
This Is not a gear issue. It Is an Intel or training or character issue. It does not justify limiting police more than civilians.
Since when are civilians running around with fully automatic weapons, driving armored vehicles....? This isn't Iraq, if police officers can't handle not gearing up like the military, they need to GTFO and go find a new line of work. If you want to be a soldier, go be a soldier, but the rash of shootings and violence we've seen from police officers that seem to fire first and think second has gotten rather old.
Military tactics are not meant for policing a domestic population. Not if the police want to encourage cooperation from the general population which is so vital to solving crimes. These sorts of tactics turn off the population.
You want It you can buy it. Tactics...let's discuss...but gear? I'm in favor of.
This Is not a gear issue. It Is an Intel or training or character issue. It does not justify limiting police more than civilians.
Once again, civilians are not carrying around fully automatic weapons and driving in armored vehicles. The use of SWAT teams has gone up over 1500% in 2 decades. Police homicides have been increasing. Many blame the aggressive tactics and militarization used by the police. In other countries you have police substantially less armed but still effective and able to do their jobs through the use of common sense and good community outreach.
You don't get a community to cooperate with you by terrorizing them. People will only continue to lose trust and respect for the police as long as they continue to act like an invading force and not an organization that is supposed to protect and SERVE the public./
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