Turning the Police into the Marines. Who paid for it?

[g5000]

Times have changed, Gertrude...in case you haven't noticed.

Yes, we have never had a cop shooting a black guy, followed by protests, before.

Yeah, times have changed. The darkies used to know their place and did not fight back.

 

[tinydancer]

What is it about the police that offends the modern left? Are left wing sissies offended by camouflage? Fine, lets go back to Police blue uniforms and Sheriff brown. Is it the weapons that offends the left? A little reminder is a bank robbery incident where California officers were outgunned by bank robbers and had to find a gun shop that sold more powerful weapons. Training? Are lefties offended by training? The left seems to talk in cliches these days rather than ideas and concepts.

So those bank robbers had a couple of machine guns, which didn't justify turning cops into military. The left, the left, the left. Your Quack Quack Quacking about the left is cliche-ing

This is an example of conservative thinking, which is binary and "one size fits all".

Most of us do not have trouble with SWAT teams to deal with situations like that bank robbery.

But SWAT teams should not be used in dealing with crowd control during a protest..or a parade.

To me it isn't so much the weaponry but the mindset that jakes any given situation into a full scale militaristic operation.

Take the cow/back money owed out of the Bundy situation for example. Before any militia showed up the BLM kicked started the operation with 200 armed officers, 9 helicopters and snipers.

To round up cattle. No protestors on any scale. No militia had arrived.

This was a full blown display of a "military mindset" from the BLM. I had people yesterday arguing with me that Bundy deserved it.

My argument will stand that to collect a debt and to round up cattle there was no justification for that show of force.

 

[The T]

What is it about the police that offends the modern left? Are left wing sissies offended by camouflage? Fine, lets go back to Police blue uniforms and Sheriff brown. Is it the weapons that offends the left? A little reminder is a bank robbery incident where California officers were outgunned by bank robbers and had to find a gun shop that sold more powerful weapons. Training? Are lefties offended by training? The left seems to talk in cliches these days rather than ideas and concepts.

They always side with CRIMINALS, the CRIMINAL element. Hell? Look at the freaks they vote for. Enough said.

 

[R.C. Christian]

Just watched a report on TV about militarizing the Police.

Seeing armored carriers, helicopters costing millions, semi and automatic weapons, gas masks and so on. Missouri is not a rich state. Some counties are even more heavily armed than the one where all this trouble started. Where does all that money come from?

Guess.

OK, I'll tell you. As soon as Republicans took over both houses, right after 9/11, they authorized the arming of civilian police through Homeland Security. Billions and billions went to the Pentagon and they "spread the wealth". I remember that at the time, Democrats were asking, why do we need all this military equipment in the middle of the country and Republicans called them weak on defense.

While I'm looking at this, I found this interesting article:

Arrests at GOP Convention Are Criticized

Pincus was one of 1,821 people arrested in police sweeps before and during the Republican convention, the largest number of arrests associated with any American major-party convention. At the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968, which unlike New York's was marked by widespread police brutality, cops made fewer than 700 arrests.

Officers often sealed off streets with orange netting and used motor scooters and horses to sweep up hundreds of protesters at a time, including many who appear to have broken no laws. In two cases, police commanders appeared to allow marches to proceed, only to order many arrests minutes later.

Most of those arrested were held for more than two days without being arraigned, which a state Supreme Court judge ruled was a violation of legal guidelines.

John Feinblatt, said in an interview that city lawyers tried to weed out the unjustly arrested and that the volume of arrests -- more than 1,100 on one day -- overwhelmed the police department.

"To be held for 50 hours and not be charged . . . it's pretty outrageous," Schriefer said. "It's just counter to everything I had understood about our legal process."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So there you have it. The Militarization of our Police. Where did it start? With Republicans of course. The party of smaller government and free speech and personal freedom. You can't believe anything they say. They are the gift that just keeps giving and giving and giving and.........

No genius, they started the program in 1990 to fight the drug war. Next the war on terror. This is old news. It's pathetic that you people took this much time to recognize it. Worse yet, it's ridiculous that you had to learn this from your TeVEE. Was that the View or Rachael Maddow?

Go to the ACLU's website and look at the PDF.

 

[The T]

What is it about the police that offends the modern left? Are left wing sissies offended by camouflage? Fine, lets go back to Police blue uniforms and Sheriff brown. Is it the weapons that offends the left? A little reminder is a bank robbery incident where California officers were outgunned by bank robbers and had to find a gun shop that sold more powerful weapons. Training? Are lefties offended by training? The left seems to talk in cliches these days rather than ideas and concepts.

They twist in the wind from day to day
one day they cheer them the next , who knows

Indeed. They change their tune as often as the political winds shift. They have ZERO principals. All there is to it.

 

[R.C. Christian]

The police in St. Louis county act like 8 years old's with military hardware. It's call of duty time! And the left whine about the militia? WTF?

 

[The T]

The police in St. Louis county act like 8 years old's with military hardware. It's call of duty time! And the left whine about the militia? WTF?

Indeed, and Militias ARE allowed...every citizen that relishes Liberty is a member IF they wish to preserve their Liberty...Founders were clear.

 

[rdean]

It's surplus equipment. The choice was leave it for ISIS or give it to the cops. Luckily Valerie told Obabble to give it to the cops.

You can prove that right?

 

[rdean]

In 1981, Reagan passed the "Military Cooperation with Law Enforcement Act" which was aimed at passing on surplus military equipment to the police.

But it was under Bush and right after 9/11 that it really took off. That's when began the transfer of expensive heavy equipment.

 

[whitehall]

The left lives by cliches. How have state and local Police turned into the Marines? I see the State Police on the interstate and they seem the same sneaky bunch hiding with radar detectors. I see the local Sheriffs with their tan uniforms and big hats and they are pretty friendly. I think the federal police agencies have been out of control for decades but generally the local Police are about the same hard working and low paid stiffs that they have always been.

 

[The T]

In 1981, Reagan passed the "Military Cooperation with Law Enforcement Act" which was aimed at passing on surplus military equipment to the police.

But it was under Bush and right after 9/11 that it really took off. That's when began the transfer of expensive heavy equipment.

Yeah...AND Criminals are arming themselves to the fucking teeth. Remember that Hollywood crap where those thugs were wearing armour all over and had higher power weapons than the police?

Deany YOU are a fucking IDIOT. What WE really need to worry about is that these agencies and the FEDS (DHS), use this POWER against the civilian POPULACE, and that wasn't what Reagan signed onto.

WHERE is your outrage as to several Government Agencies including the US Postal Service, NOAA arming themselves? FOR what fucking purpose?

Your premise is hereby hit by a torpedo you partisan HACK.

 

[tinydancer]

In 1981, Reagan passed the "Military Cooperation with Law Enforcement Act" which was aimed at passing on surplus military equipment to the police.

But it was under Bush and right after 9/11 that it really took off. That's when began the transfer of expensive heavy equipment.

Yeah...AND Criminals are arming themselves to the fucking teeth. Remember that Hollywood crap where those thugs were wearing armour all over and had higher power weapons than the police?

Deany YOU are a fucking IDIOT. What WE really need to worry about is that these agencies and the FEDS (DHS), use this POWER against the civilian POPULACE, and that wasn't what Reagan signed onto.

WHERE is your outrage as to several Government Agencies including the US Postal Service, NOAA arming themselves? FOR what fucking purpose?

Your premise is hereby hit by a torpedo you partisan HACK.

rdean is addicted to partisanship. There is more than enough blame to go around. I've got a thread going that clearly points out that all levels of government are at fault for this over the top weaponry that towns of 10,000 are being able to buy equipment from the Pentagon.

I have no problem whatsoever for police forces in major cities being armed to match their threats.

That's a real deal. But I was reading a report of this one town I think it was Sweetwater Texas that had bought a drone and has crashed it twice. Once into the Humvee they bought.

Aye carumba! And they are not the only ones.

 

[Lakhota]

To Terrify and Occupy

How the Excessive Militarization of the Police Is Turning Cops Into Counterinsurgents

Jason Westcott was afraid.

One night last fall, he discovered via Facebook that a friend of a friend was planning with some co-conspirators to break in to his home. They were intent on stealing Wescott's handgun and a couple of TV sets. According to the Facebook message, the suspect was planning on "burning" Westcott, who promptly called the Tampa Bay police and reported the plot.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, the investigating officers responding to Westcott's call had a simple message for him: "If anyone breaks into this house, grab your gun and shoot to kill."

Around 7:30 p.m. on May 27, the intruders arrived. Westcott followed the officers' advice, grabbed his gun to defend his home, and died pointing it at the intruders. They used a semiautomatic shotgun and handgun to shoot down the 29-year-old motorcycle mechanic. He was hit three times, once in the arm and twice in his side, and pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

The intruders, however, weren't small-time crooks looking to make a small score. Rather they were members of the Tampa Bay Police Department's SWAT team, which was executing a search warrant on suspicion that Westcott and his partner were marijuana dealers. They had been tipped off by a confidential informant, whom they drove to Westcott's home four times between February and May to purchase small amounts of marijuana, at $20-$60 a pop. The informer notified police that he saw two handguns in the home, which was why the Tampa Bay police deployed a SWAT team to execute the search warrant.

In the end, the same police department that told Westcott to protect his home with defensive force killed him when he did. After searching his small rental, the cops indeed found weed, two dollars' worth, and one legal handgun -- the one he was clutching when the bullets ripped into him.

Welcome to a new era of American policing, where cops increasingly see themselves as soldiers occupying enemy territory, often with the help of Uncle Sam's armory, and where even nonviolent crimes are met with overwhelming force and brutality.

Much More: To Terrify and Occupy*|*Matthew Harwood

It's really getting ugly.

 

[Stephanie]

well are we SHOCKED rdean says it THE REPUBLICANS?

pfeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh

 

[rdean]

The Republicans have wanted to be known for decades as the "Party of Law and Order". They have blindly supported the police and it was Republicans who pushed for the militarization of the Police across the US.

And now, all of a sudden, it's the Democrats????

We are in Iraq because Democrats didn't stop us.

We passed the deficit creating Bush Tax cuts because Democrats didn't stop us (actually, ya'll need to look up reconciliation on that one)

The government shutdown was because of Democrats.

The economic downgrade was because of Democrats (even though the GOP got 98% of everything they wanted)

Every time you trace crap back to the Republicans, and it is easy to trace, they cry that it's the Democrat's fault.

 

[rdean]

Look at the title of this thread:

http://www.usmessageboard.com/polit...and-progressives-fear-militarized-police.html

See what I mean? Republicans trying to have it both ways.

 

[Jughead]

Turning the Police into the Marines. Who paid for it?

It doesn't matter who paid for it, the fact remains that our police forces need adequate protection and firepower in order to be prepared for any scenario. Otherwise they'd be sitting ducks when confronted with criminals who have superior firepower. Not to mention the drug cartels.

 

[rdean]

Turning the Police into the Marines. Who paid for it?

It doesn't matter who paid for it, the fact remains that our police forces need adequate protection and firepower in order to be prepared for any scenario. Otherwise they'd be sitting ducks when confronted with criminals who have superior firepower. Not to mention the drug cartels.

It's GOP policies that create those "cartels".

Your sig:

"All great change in America begins at the dinner table." - President Reagan

like nuclear energy? Vaccines? NASA?

 

[rdean]

Funny, just watching a report on TV and they said, "Breaking News" - US spends billions since 9/11 on arming police. Then they broke it down into numbers and equipment.

Funny, "Breaking News" I found on the Internet in 5 minutes.

 

[The T]

Turning the Police into the Marines. Who paid for it?

It doesn't matter who paid for it, the fact remains that our police forces need adequate protection and firepower in order to be prepared for any scenario. Otherwise they'd be sitting ducks when confronted with criminals who have superior firepower. Not to mention the drug cartels.

Yep. They need it to keep pace.