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Got to keep the military industial complex humming along. If you can't go pick a fight overseas, pick it internally. Those humvees and 40 mm grenade launchers aren't going to sell themselves.
I've always believed police departments have way too much firepower and military equipment for the policing of local communities. Police departments are out of control and a real potential threat to governments. It's very scary when police departments have more military weapons and warfighting tactics than the National Guard, which is the military department responsible for responding to state emergencies.
Last edited by dorado0359; 08-15-2014 at 08:41 AM..
Reason: ...
When I was a kid on the streets of one of the big three cities in the US the policeman walked a beat. He carried a night stick and a .38 cal pea shooter. His communication was a call-box that were positioned about every three city blocks. He was well respected.
Today we have police that armed to the hilt with body armor and armored personnel carriers. SWAT teams that deliver traffic summons by breaking down front doors in the middle of the night and in the process many times killing innocent people especially children. We have all seen the policeman firing indiscriminately at a fleeing van driven by a mother with four small children in the car. We have seen policeman shot and kill a retarded individual because he couldn't explain himself. Then there is the more recent choking to death of citizens all recorded on video.
Ask yourself what has happened to our police? In my childhood the police where part of society. Everyone knew Officer "O'Brien" and respected him.
The police today are not respected. They simply don't deserve respect. How can you trust an individual in full body armor and and automatic weapon ready to do battle against and elder lady with a rolling pin?
It is time to demand our legislators return America to the way it was and end this militarization of the police. On the local level, residents must demand an inventory of police equipment and eliminate all inappropriate firearms, armor, and devices that do not come under police equipment but instead are intended for military use. If you are a police personnel and don't like it then quit.
The police attitude should be to serve and protect. Not the police but the citizens. When anyone takes a police oath he/she should be prepared to lay down their lives to protect innocent civilians.
This current day attitude of protecting police personnel without regard to the safety of civilians is absolutely ridiculous.
One of the biggest problems is the way police are being trained to shoot first and question later. Reasonable force requires you to identify the threat and if not being fired upon retreat to safety and contain the threat. Call for backup, identify and seek compliance from safe position. Simply to many examples where fear for safety of the office is claimed and death results for unarmed individuals. It's as if to say the shooting and loss of life, of 100 unarmed civilians, is more desirable, many times, when what is being investigated is a minor infraction of law, than the feelings of the officer. When a clear threat has not been determined the first response of deadly force is unacceptable. We all want safety, yet we know that, and get behind the wheel of automobiles where loss of life is a daily occurrence. If an officer wants safety and isn't willing to offer it to the population he is in charge to protect, then he needs to find a job he's more qualified for. Serving the public is not his calling.
Firefighters would not respond to fires if their safety was first and foremost the consideration. All jobs have risk. Police work has risk but if you can't preform it accepting the risk, without killing what you can't identify, then something needs to change. The officer, in his own house, who woke in the early morning hours, grabbed his gun, to investigate a noise, saw a form and fired, shooting his own teenage daughter, should be questioning his decision and his training.
Actually many of them are prior military service and they do train in crowd control tactics, so your assumption is not really accurate.
Yup, there are federal grants through the DHS to train small town PD's in urban combat, usually taught by combat veterans and often former spec ops guys. That way, if the terrorists ever try to take over a few buildings in Tupelo, they won't have to wait for the county to send over a SWAT team - the same guy who sits in his cruiser with a radar gun eating Slim Jim's all day can throw on the helmet and grab the M4 in his trunk and go use his shoot-to-kill combat training to neutralize them.
The problem is that he is now trained to think like a soldier in a war zone every time he pulls over a car or responds to a noise complaint... He assumes this could be "the big one."
In my childhood the police where part of society. Everyone knew Officer "O'Brien" and respected him.
The police today are not respected. They simply don't deserve respect. How can you trust an individual in full body armor and and automatic weapon ready to do battle against and elder lady with a rolling pin?
It is time to demand our legislators return America to the way it was and end this militarization of the police. On the local level, residents must demand an inventory of police equipment and eliminate all inappropriate firearms, armor, and devices that do not come under police equipment but instead are intended for military use. If you are a police personnel and don't like it then quit.
The police attitude should be to serve and protect. Not the police but the citizens. When anyone takes a police oath he/she should be prepared to lay down their lives to protect innocent civilians.
This current day attitude of protecting police personnel without regard to the safety of civilians is absolutely ridiculous.
Great post. I recall the pd you described well today. Todays forces are spitting in the faces of the forces you have talked about, from past generations. IMO, we're getting the misfits today, the sociopaths, those who cannot get another job with like pay,those are today's police departments.
Faced with a bloated military and what it perceived as a worsening drug crisis, the 101st Congress in 1990 enacted the National Defense Authorization Act. Section 1208 of the NDAA allowed the Secretary of Defense to “transfer to Federal and State agencies personal property of the Department of Defense,
…
It was called the 1208 Program. In 1996, Congress replaced Section 1208 with Section 1033.
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The St. Louis County Police Department’s annual budget is around $160 million. By providing law enforcement agencies with surplus military equipment free of charge, the NDAA encourages police to employ military weapons and military tactics.
Watertown, CT (pop. 22,514) – purchased a mine resistant vehicle costing taxpayers $733,000 for $2,800
Bloomington, GA (pop. 2,713) – acquired four grenade launchers
So this 1033 program is the vehicle used to militarize local police departments.
This is not a police state. The idea that our local police have become paramilitary forces is appalling. From a legislation stand point-- What can and should be done?
I think this is something most conservatives and liberals can agree on.
Not only has Homeland Security facilitated their purchases of military equipment, it also TRAINS LEOs in battlefield tactics. Check out dhs website sometime. I have known for nearly 4 years. Most people have been blowing it off as a conspiracy theory.
What can be done? Maybe Obama will find out about it in the news like everyone else.
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