Militarization of police accelerates
Two years of protesting police shootings have achieved very little.
This is a fact beyond question.
Yet the best available data suggests that if police officers are being watched more closely, that hasn’t reduced the frequency with which they kill people. In fact, they might be killing people more often. And the people dying still are disproportionately black.
However, early on there was one modest victory.
Before the post-Ferguson riots of 2014 fallout became all about race relations, many people were alarmed that the police forces of the United States were increasingly looking like an occupation army.
In response, the Obama Administration implemented a modest reform on the 1033 Program which gives local police forces old military-grade weapons from the Pentagon.
It turns out that the modest reform was far too modest, and 2015 saw the 2nd largest transfer of military-grade weapons to police forces in the history of the 1033 Program.
Despite public outcry, new federal data shows that 2014 and 2015 were peak years for shipments of surplus military gear to local police departments across America.
In total, our new data reveals $2.2 billion worth of military gear including helicopters and airplanes, armored trucks and cars, tens of thousands of M16 and M14 rifles, thousands of bayonets, mine detectors and many other types of weaponry.
Thousands of units of government across America received military equipment. Using our mapping technology, citizens can quickly search the military ‘gun lockers’ of your local government: park districts, forest preserves, hometown police departments, junior colleges, universities, county sheriffs, natural resource and public safety departments, state police – and Homeland Security, Interior and the Justice Department – across any ZIP code.
Obviously Obama's modest police reform hasn't worked at all, but at least something has been done. Right? Wrong.
On June 15, just days after the massacre at the Orlando Pulse LGBTQ club’s Latin night, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed an amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act that allows the Pentagon to disperse military-grade weaponry to police departments across the country....
Obama’s reform established a list of weapons that are prohibited from distribution and adds more steps to the acquisitions process for other arms. It has been criticized for falling short of eradicating the federal program altogether.
But the latest House amendment reverses this executive order by stipulating that “no funds shall be used to implement President Obama's Executive Order 13688 limiting the donation of surplus federal equipment to state and local law enforcement as part of the DOD's Excess Property Program (1033 program).”
Thus even the most modest and insufficient steps at de-escalating this conflict are being rolled back.
This is a big deal. The more the police are outfitted like an occupation army, the more they will act like an occupation army.
Despite these commonalities, the purpose of the police is distinct from the purpose of the military. Police are supposed to enforce the law and preserve public safety within a legal jurisdiction. In contrast, the military defends the “common good,” which includes, but is not limited to, fighting wars against external aggressors. Paul Sieghart reflects on this distinction in a 1978 article for New Scientist, writing that “the job of the soldier is to kill the Queen’s enemies in war-time; that of a policeman is to protect the Queen’s subjects in peacetime.” He suggests that police, like soldiers, are permitted to use lethal force in the course of their duties, but that injuring and taking life are nevertheless fundamentally in conflict with the police duty to protect life.
It's dangerous for the police to have a "warrior's mentality". The police will eventually start viewing every problem as a nail needing to be hammered down, and this leads to a very dark place.
Comments
Use the Barney Fife Option
I know this won't ever happen, but remember on "The Andy Griffith Show" that Deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts) was only allowed to carry one bullet, tucked into his shirt pocket in case of an emergency? We could try that instead of continuing to let police shoot their automatic pistols until they run out of ammo, when one bullet can stop a suspect (hopefully allowing them to be arrested and taken to the hospital instead of the morgue).
Side note: Please take away the killer robots from all police departments ASAP.
"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."
Many new police are ex-military
http://discoverpolicing.org/find_your_career/?fa=military_veterans
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_23886231/from-military-polic...
"I'm not saying there aren't lots of vets out there who wouldn't be extraordinarily good cops," said Deitch, a tactical consultant to police forces when he first got out of the military and who now works as a veterans rights advocate in Contra Costa County. "(But) many people who have gone to combat for any amount of time have got some stuff that they need to work on."
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), an office of the Department of Justice, from offering 220 cities $114.6 million in incentive grants to hire post-9/11 veterans to fill 800 law enforcement positions.
So equipment and personnel - no wonder they are militarized!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
PTSD laden cops armed like
PTSD laden cops armed like they are in a warzone will always lead to tragedy, especially as the Veterans Administration puts veterans on long waiting lists even when they are not fighting the vets that they have issues, and once the neo-libs get their way and "privatize" the VA it will be worse than before.
Meanwhile, they need to NOT fast track a veteran into law enforcement, they need the re-training and re-education so that they realize they are not patrolling Afghanistan/Iraq, but that they are back in their home land, and patrolling neighborhoods that are like those they grew up in and to work with the people there, not look at them as targets.
So long, and thanks for all the fish
Extrajudicial killings
link
Ex-military personnel must be de-trained before they can be
trained as civilian police officers. Military training and experience is 180 degrees away from "protect and serve" which should be the operating standard for law enforcement agencies.
However, we see ex-military given preferential treatment as each stage of the application process. It has produced a dangerous situation for communities throughout the country and won't be changed until the de-militarization of police and sheriffs departments is complete.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
The sheeple allowed the War OF Terror to engulf their
lives, that was a big step forward for the police state. It's all tied together. Check out France now, a permanent state of emergency, just like the U.S. Pretty soon the entire world will be in a permanent state of emergency, maybe it is now. All caused by those controlling Uncle Sam. Militarization of the police started in earnest after the Vietnam war with surplus equipment programs.
We can't underestimate the impact the War OF Terror has had in all this. Throw in the manufactured racial situation and we're pretty much fucked at this point.
Just as the unconstitutional
Just as the unconstitutional corporate coup and one of its Presidential candidate pushers are being shoved through and massive protests can be expected from the dispossessed serfs expected to provide maximized profits, shut up and die, whether of unsafe food, air, water, products and workplaces or to provide examples to any others thinking of objecting.
Vote against both evils supporting this, whether they admit it to a steadily more aware global population or not - if Bernie can't pull off one of his miracles against the corporate/Clinton machine, vote Green and carefully record and protest/sue against all evidence of voter suppression and cheating to avoid a bloody revolution.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Some days it all seems really hopeless, doesn't it?
Some days I feel like absolutely nothing is going to stop our race to complete destruction.
Don't despair, Haikukitty.
It's only the Americans and their most loyal vassal states (fewer by the day) that are going down. The rest of the world is doing fine.
Only connect. - E.M. Forster
Except for "our" enemies, the rest of the world.
Sorry for the sour note.
dancingrabbit
dancingrabbit
Please, if at all possible, do read this in full at source!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/08/tpp-trade-agreement_n_4409211.html
This is only one of many such corporate-designed 'trade bills' in this unconstitutional global hostile corporate takeover attempt - but effectively (traitorously) hands domestic law in all involved countries over to an off-shored corporate court where the public interest has no standing, only considering the maximization of the anticipated future profits of involved ruthless corporations and billionaires at public and environmental expense, as long as any public or environment remain to be bled, if necessary by massive fines to profit corporations/billionaires objecting to public/environmental protections of any kind. Look at the countries specified here, forming fairly close to half of the global economy.
But if the public of one country escapes the TPP trap, apparently they all do. I wonder why?
http://canadians.org/tpp-info
The publics of the countries involved are not actually involved except, of course, as prospective corporate properties - these are privately made agreements, between corporations, billionaires and corrupt/bullied/conned public servants betraying the countries and people they are sworn to serve into the hands of what can only be described as enemies seeking to use and abuse the world literally to the death of all life on the planet.
The public money and militaries of various of these countries are already being used to attack/invade other people's still-sovereign countries, something from which various corporations as well as the MIC profit.
Seems as though the whole world is to be economically/militarily captured in what are to become its dying days.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
Meanwhile these militarized towns' schools are in poverty
The "cops" have everything while the schools are begging for pencils, paper and in some cases - toilet paper.
It's beyond shameful and totally tragic.
Some of the photos I've seen of the "police"... who can tell cops from soldier? And since we can't tell, what's next? We have them already publicly executing citizens.
Time to take back our streets and start putting all that fucking killer money into our schools.
"Love One Another" ~ George Harrison
An important essay
Thanks for stating this in the starkest terms. And all this, people, under a Democratic President. Where is the lesser evil?
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
Yes, I was wondering too: This is Obama's America. How would
Hillary change this?
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
She'd be the first President
She'd be the first President to be officially directly employed as corporate management - and that changes everything, doesn't it?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
I agree. Clinton: Exec. V.P. in charge of Prole Control
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
She would increase the profit margin,
especially to herself and a few elite friends.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass
Posse Commitatus...
For your factoid fun!
"In 1878 the use of a posse comitatus was limited by the passage of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. This act, passed in response to the use of federal troops to enforce reconstruction policies in the southern states, prohibited the use of the U.S. Army to enforce laws unless the Constitution or an act of Congress explicitly authorized such use. This act was amended five times in the 1980s, largely to allow for the use of military resources to combat trafficking in illicit narcotics."
From: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Posse+comitatus
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
We as a people are our own
We as a people are our own worst enemy. Or as has been put into newspaper comics of the past "We has seen the enemy and they is us"
So long, and thanks for all the fish
This is terrible. I agree with you - if you are outfitted for
military action, you are much more likely to take military action!
Please check out Pet Vet Help, consider joining us to help pets, and follow me @ElenaCarlena on Twitter! Thank you.
Ugh!
On one side I'm arguing with someone on TOP who claims that the police are nothing but a glorified lynch mob designed to kill black people, while implying that white people who get killed must deserve it.
I said that's insane.
On the other side, I have Facebook friends that I really like calling BLM "the Black KKK" and stuff like that.
I'm telling them to get a grip and buy a clue.
So basically I am both guilty of being too politically correct AND guilty of white privilege.
I'm both racist AND a self-hating white.
I figure that I must be onto the truth because everyone hates me now.
Caught between two extremist
Caught between two extremist groups, both seeing everything in Black and White? Try explaining that those perceived as being most vulnerable will be the first to be bullied, abused and murdered but that the 99% are all in line for this treatment. When they run out of us low-lifes, they'll start in on each other.
Once it's OK to discriminate against/abuse any one group in society, it's OK to do the same to others. This means the ones who are thinking of 'them' being at risk/possibly deserving abuse/murder, too. Perhaps enlightened self-interest might lead them then to understand that police abuses of anyone/any group are intolerable but will only become endemic if tolerated anyway.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
My thinking exactly
I support BLM for two reason, and both of those reasons are self-interest, not empathy:
1) what comes around goes around
2) if they can take away someone else's rights, then it isn't a right
If you like your friends & relatives gunned down in the street -
Thank a Vet!
"Rights are merely privilege extended, unless enjoyed by one and all"...The Internationale
The Markos Mousebreath Misery Theatre is home to the "cult of the vet." I wonder how they are dealing with the fact that many if not most of the ongoing atrocities are perpetrated by ex-military.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
Atrocities perpetrated by ex-military.
The ex-Marine who shot 6 police officers in Baton Rouge had a MOS of Network Data Specialist. No infantry, no artillery, no sniper, no awards for marksmanship in his military record. The Army Reservist who shot ten police officers and two innocent bystanders in downtown Dallas was a carpenter/mason. When he was down range, he built buildings with Engineering soldiers.
Estimates suggest 90% of today's military are in support positions. Many Army and Marine soldiers learn to operate a weapon for a few weeks in basic training/boot camp, enough to pass rifle proficiency and shoot paper targets a couple of times a year.
I am the proud, patriotic mother of a soldier and I find your remarks extremely insulting.
The PDs are ready for Trump's "law and order"
Bill Clinton was bad enough and so was Hillary;
A (More or Less) Definitive Guide to Hillary Clinton’s Record on Law and Order
The political revolution continues
Zero Tolerance Is Evil
School children are going to jail and/or "reform" schools for cutting class and dress code violations, for writing rap songs and violent artwork.
Adults on probation are violated for petty violations that may be entirely fictitious. Cops use zero tolerance as a weapon of control the same way authority is misused in the corporate world to solicit sexual favors.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
... 1996: In her book, “It
This was merely to compensate for the fact that rules, laws, Constitutional limitations and requirements of high-level public service positions don't apply to the Clintons. So they had to apply this to an awful lot of children in order to balance things out.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
"Two years of protesting police shootings have achieved
very little".
This isn't snark...this is an honest question. When was the last time peaceful protest accomplished ANYTHING in this country? My perception is, "not in my lifetime".
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Violent protest [short of actual bullets] hasn't done it either.
We are trying to accomplish a revolution by ballot. If that doesn't work, civil war is an option that is always out there.
As a history student, please allow me to say that civil wars are an unmitigated bitch.
Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.
I have a degree in military history.
And, yes, they are. I suspect they have a better record for getting something done, though.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
I think I see the problem...
Yep! That's it!
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
Folks, they've gotta have this stuff
I don't know if it will be a political awakening, the loss of even knowledge worker jobs due to the internet of things and algorithms, or upheaval due to climate change, but when the people fight back against the oligarchy, they have to be able to maintain control over us serfs and peasants.
It's called maintaining social order.
As Carlin said about the oligarchy "you ain't in it". These weapons are the oars of the lifeboat and they will use them to beat us back.
Dig within. There lies the wellspring of all good. Ever dig and it will ever flow
Marcus Aurelius
Tue, 07/19/2016 - 6:36am —
Tue, 07/19/2016 - 6:36am — Mosquito Pilot
And this is why peaceful protests regarding the so very obviously rigged primary and Her Royal Coronation at the Convention need to be massive.
If the people appear to be taking this quietly while the corporate jaws are still closing on their throats, the oligarchical steamroller will continue right on over their prone bodies with unabated momentum.
And the FBI and other cover-ups being done for Clinton are as unconvincing, irrelevant/stupid as are her excuses - claiming chronic and endlessly repeated incompetence, stupidity and the inability to read and understand documents/agreements she signs or the terms therein are hardly qualifications for any public office, never mind the Presidency - this is the time to press in on all sides and issues, make it all as public as possible - because the corporate media certainly can't be trusted to accurately inform the people where their billionaire owners want silence/propaganda - unless they have to.
But these protesters have voted Dem for a Dem candidate and will be protesting the Dem Party for corruption, which places the DNC/Clinton/corporate faction in a rather difficult situation.
A violent police response to any such peaceful protest by Bernie Dem voters - cheated of their Constitutional voting rights in order to cheat all people of their Constitutional rights in order to unconstitutionally give their inalienable rights to what can only be termed enemies enacting a hostile corporate takeover of democracies around the world - might be the final straw to ignite a massive and unstoppable Bern. Are they stupid enough to go that route?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.