Discussion for article #226451
“We’ve seen here a situation in which that militarization caused exactly the opposite reaction, in my view, as to what it normally should”
Um…no. It caused the opposite reaction from what you wanted, not what you should expect from it.
And, unsurprisingly, no actual suggestion as to what to do about it. I’m sure Nixon will be right on it.
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Militarization did NOT cause the unrest in Ferguson. Years of abuse by police and the murder of a black child is what caused this powder keg to finally blow. You can take away the tanks and camo but if you don’t change the way the department conducts itself then nothing is going to change. Cops will and should continue to carry guns, they’ll still have their billy clubs and fists. They’ll still have the ability to intimidate the community, they’ll still have the ability to harass, hurt, and deny residents basic human rights. Taking away their MRAPs isn’t going to solve that. Until they deal with the systemic abuse and the plantation overseer mindset within the department absolutely nothing will change.
I’d like to see this militarization called what it is: CORPORATE WELFARE! Our tiny local PD just got a free vehicle, which had cost us taxpayers almost $800,000. This is a ridiculous waste of our money and it only happens because of kickbacks. Family and child welfare gets almost no support-my high school football player has had 2 charges to us as parents, for $275, and has had to do TWO football fundraisers in addition-and just the binders and pencils etc we had to buy for 2 students cost $90.
But it will reduce the escalating riots and unfortunate pictures coming from the scene.
And certainly, that’s what the politicians actually care about in this situation.
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Exactly! It seems the reason Ferguson got any attention at all was because of the military-style weapons and tactics. Removing them doesn’t change a thing except the negative image of the Ferguson PD.
Yes, militarization of police creates a less safe environment for protesters. So do policies of concealing badge numbers and names, and harassment of journalists.
But good luck trying to change that now – the fascists have got it just about where they want it in ordrer to fully implement their wholesale economic destruction of the American people without fear of retribution. Pitchforks and torches don’t mean shit to an armored personnel carrier filled with AR15 toting thugs in body armor.
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I believe it did. It gave them the go-ahead to use inarguable force, no matter how small the situation.
It gave them a sense that they were “prepared” for a much, much more violent world than really exists.
It is essentially the same thing that happens when you give an ordinary peaceful citizen a gun because of “defense.” He immediately becomes a danger to himself and everyone around him because he’s now in "defense’ mode and must make sure everyone knows he’s got his “defense” at the ready.
It absolutely is the cause, and it absolutely must be stopped. The #1 priority of our police forces now should be stripping out the bad, unsuited-for-the-job police, and disarming everyone else. Cops in other parts of the world are not armed all the time – they investigate crimes, not “fight bad guys.”
The other problem is these twits and dipshits should not be watching TV to learn how to be cops.
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It got attention because of pictures, mostly. And that one fucker being dumb enough to arrest reporters on film.
It’s just most people don’t see the paramilitary look of the police so it was shocking.
That wasn’t the cause - the cause was the shooting. The escalation, however, from the moment the riot gear broke out, was because of the gear and attitude that goes along with it.
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It was toxic mix of good old boy racism and military hardware.
Pretending that the militarization of our police forces isn’t a factor is really whistling past the graveyard. Really.
It’s expanded under Obama, and will continue to expand until the citizenry demands a reversal of this dangerous trend.
There’s an excellent piece in the LA Times that explores this:
Racial prejudice and militarized cops are a bad mix in America
…Over the last few years, the best police departments have adopted community policing methods that have helped strengthen ties to troubled neighborhoods and taught cops smarter ways to handle tough situations. Unfortunately, at the same time, many departments have gotten equipped with heavy-duty armaments that are far better suited to the battlefields of Iraq than to America’s small towns, such as Ferguson. And, once such big toys of battle are in hand, the compulsion to use them is nearly irresistible.
No, it really isn’t but you’re welcome to continue to ignore the long history of police brutality against Black men in order to make some asinine point about President Obama. Michael Brown wasn’t murdered with an MRAP. He was killed with a standard issue police sidearm. Just like Timothy Thomas and so many other young Black men who are murdered by the people who are supposed to serve and protect them. In 2009, when Ferguson police beat the hell out of an innocent man and then charged him with bleeding on their uniforms they didn’t have this military style equipment. In 2001 when Tim Thomas was shot in an alley, Cincinnati police didn’t have military style equipment. There are countless examples of police shooting/killing Black men long before the 1033 program was in place. To pretend that somehow having these weapons is what’s causing this violence is to ignore the long history of police brutality visited about men of color. I suspect that for many that’s actually a feature, not a bug. It’s easy to deal with over-militarization so they’d rather focus on that issue than to deal with the real reasons behind the anger and violence in Ferguson.
Again, if that were even remotely true then there wouldn’t be a long history of police shooting/brutalizing Black men in police departments all over this country. If it were really about militarization the killing of unarmed Black men by White police officers would be a new phenomenon, not a nearly daily event.
I’m ignoring racism…by identifying it as one of the components of this problem?
LOL. Your reading comprehension leaves something to be desired.
The ACLU has authored a very good report which I urge everyone to read.
Especially the Resident Obama Enthusiasts.
WAR COMES HOME
The Excessive Militarization of American Policing
( it’s a .pdf)
Across the country, heavily armed Special Weapons
and Tactics (SWAT) teams are forcing their way into
people’s homes in the middle of the night, often deploying
explosive devices such as flashbang grenades to temporarily
blind and deafen residents, simply to serve a search warrant
on the suspicion that someone may be in possession of
a small amount of drugs. Neighborhoods are not war
zones, and our police officers should not be treating us
like wartime enemies. However, the ACLU encountered
this type of story over and over when studying the
militarization of state and local law enforcement agencies.
This investigation gave us data to corroborate a trend we
have been noticing nationwide: American policing has
become unnecessarily and dangerously militarized, in
large part through federal programs that have armed state
and local law enforcement agencies with the weapons
and tactics of war, with almost no public discussion or
oversight
Who?