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Posted on 06/27/2014 6:05:36 PM PDT by RKBA Democrat
If there’s anything I know after serving the Boston Police Department for 27 years, it’s this: Good policing is all about trust.
This isn’t a particularly novel insight, but my time as a beat cop hammered it into me time and again. Yet it’s incredible how many police departments across the nation have lost sight of this in their rush to transform into something more akin to a standing army rather than a civilian police force safeguarding a democratic people.
Have no doubt, police in the United States are militarizing, and in many communities, particularly those of color, the message is being received loud and clear: “You are the enemy.” Police officers are increasingly arming themselves with military-grade equipment such as assault rifles, flashbang grenades, and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected, or MRAP, vehicles and dressing up in commando gear before using battering rams to burst into the homes of people who have not been charged with a crime. Perhaps more alarming is the fact that the Pentagon has played a huge role in this militarization by transferring its weapons of war to civilian police departments through its so-called 1033 program.
Many communities now look upon police as an occupying army, their streets more reminiscent of Baghdad or Kabul than a city in America. This besieged mentality created by the militarization of police has driven a pernicious wedge into the significant gains made under community- and problem-oriented policing initiatives dating from the late 1980s. The trusting relationships so many police officers painstakingly built within their communities have been eroded by the mindset of the warrior cop.
One of the more alarming trends in the overall militarization of police, which has accelerated since 9/11, is the use of Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT, teams for routine police work. According to the ACLU’s new report, “War Comes Home,” the majority of the SWAT raids it examined was to execute search warrants, usually in low-level drug investigations. The ACLU also found that many of the SWAT raids it studied used unjustifiably “violent tactics and equipment,” often in homes where children were known to be present.
The ACLU also found something far more worrisome but unfortunately not surprising. The use of SWAT teams disproportionately impacts people of color, particularly when the teams were deployed to execute a search warrant for a drug investigation. Of the cases the ACLU studied, when SWAT raids affected blacks and Latinos, 68 percent were for drug searches. But when SWAT raids affected whites, only 38 percent were for drug searches, even though whites use drugs at roughly the same rates as blacks and Latinos.
This discriminatory and excessive use of SWAT teams turns the criminal justice system on its head and eviscerates the presumption of innocence, which is the hallmark of American justice. People who have been charged with no crime aren’t only treated like they’re guilty; they’re made to endure a violent intrusion into their home based on the mere suspicion of low-level crimes. To the victims of unnecessary SWAT raids and their communities, the idea that police are there to serve and protect them becomes a bad joke.
This isn’t to say that the use of SWAT teams is never justified. I know better than most. I participated in one of the very first SWAT deployments at the Boston Police Department when a man who shot a police superintendent barricaded himself in an apartment. But this is the precise type of situation that the SWAT program was created for, not breaking down the door of people in the middle of the night with guns drawn in pursuit of drugs.
Militarized policing undermines the very notion of law enforcement in a democratic society. Rather than reassuring us that we are safe and out of harm’s way, it creates a pervasive sense that we are unsafe and in danger, sometimes from the police themselves. It’s not surprising then that the ACLU also discovered that the militarization of domestic law enforcement occurred without any input, direction, or oversight from affected communities and that law enforcement agencies’ records on acquisitions of military weapons, vehicles, and equipment were “virtually nonexistent.”
The situation, however, is far from being beyond hope or possible resolution. Not all police practitioners — including policy makers, administrators, managers, supervisors and line officers — endorse and support the militarization of America’s law enforcement agencies. Progressive police chiefs in Madison, Wisconsin, and Salt Lake City, Utah, for example, have been publicly critical of police militarization practices and initiatives.
If we want to roll back the militarization of our police forces, the ACLU offers many common sense recommendations, but two stand out as critical first steps. The first is that the use of paramilitary tactics should be restricted solely to situations where there is a true and verifiable emergency, such as a hostage or barricade situation. The second would require that police record and report all uses of paramilitary tactics, including a justification for the use of SWAT, as well as all injuries and property damage caused by the use of SWAT teams.
Our streets and communities aren’t warzones, but the creeping militarization of our police forces and the warrior mindset it creates has the feel of a self-fulfilling prophecy on the part of our nation’s law enforcement agencies.
actually, they should stop arming bureaucrats like the military
Clarence Raby, eh?
And there is no need for it. A smart cop not wanting to be RAMBO and make it to retirement can take a little bit more time and effort and take someone into custody at minimal risk to all including themselves. Waco for example could have been prevented had they simply sent two deputies to town to catch him at the dentist officer in the chair. Innocent Kids would still be alive. The risk back at the compound would have been nil with cult leader not there. It's not about resolving a problem safely it's about power trips.
Where I live any problems being a threat to me would likely be resolved by the time a deputy could get here. They're stretched too thin and they could be 20 minutes out at any time.
I don’t have a problem arming our police like our military as long as civilians can also arm themselves the same way.
Raby lived within about a mile of wardens dad and sister. I'm old enough to remember it. He carjacked my school bus driver while he was driving his pick up. He was lucky. Raby didn't kill him but he killed a store owner.
the white line on the pavement!
Those funeral customs go back to the 19th century when many big city police departments were largely Irish immigrants who brought the traditions with them. Kind of dumb to get pissed off and demand they stop now.
Were not in the 19th Century...Gezzz
But back then they didn’t back up traffic into the next city, causing a chain reaction giant traffic jams for 20 miles on freeways and surface streets etc...
I’m not just against LEO’s doing this, I am against “ALL” funeral processions on public roads...Anywhere near one of these large mortuaries it’s a living nightmare for those living anywhere near them as it happens DAILY....
They are a clear hazard and cause unbelievable accidents and major traffic jams....Let them meet at the mortuary...Save everyone a major pain in the azz...
I have no such confidence. They seem just as prone to thuggery as any other leo.
Union uber alles.
I'm not talking about the white line on the pavement that you got gigged for by the revenooing cop & thudge.
I'm talking about any random, unguarded traffic sign in their jurisdiction.
From The Untouchables: "He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue."
They stole $100 from you. It'd be a shame if an unknown person cost them 200-300 bucks somewhere else...
It irritates me too.
Got it!
Even a blind squirrel gets a nut every now and then.
Defense One is owned by the Atlantic, so they feel the need to throw the socialists a bone.
“Where I live any problems being a threat to me would likely be resolved by the time a deputy could get here. They’re stretched too thin and they could be 20 minutes out at any time. “
That’s as it should be. I think 911 has been horrible for America. The police should be rarely used.
There’s a saying in a place I used to live: call 911 and then call dominoes pizza. So at least you won’t be hungry when the police arrive.
Side question: are you really still a Democrat?
“Hmm, wonder why the FG would want to be encouraging the militarisation of the police? Combined with all the ammo they’re buying, and the Pentagons training actively for putting down nationwide civil disorder, I have wonder it is exactly they are expecting and preparing for?”
The answer is obvious, but so are the problems. A lot of what cops do to us is about one thing, their irrational fear of harm. They think they are in Robocop. That cops are getting popped like zits.
They will never be worth anything against any public uprising, because they first and for most are cowards PLAYING soldier. It is easy to do, when the odds of real violence being offered back is limited.
Let them face a real threat from the public, that ranch thing comes to mind, and they won’t stand and fight.
“These types of operations are probably attracting individuals hungry for action.”
http://boingboing.net/2012/07/07/police-recruitment-videos-from.html
This is part of the problem, actively seeking thrill junkies. And when a cop’s job turns out to be fairly boring,(it isn’t robocop), they create their own adventure at our expense.
There is also the issue of control freaks. They like power. They think they have all the answers, and everyone else knows nothing.
I’ve had an exchange with a cop on another site where he just won’t get why how cops behave toward people. Foul mouths, abusive tones, etc. To the cop, this was nothing. I’m just a whinny bitch to him. They have no grasp of why their behavior toward the public is important. It changes your personal attitude from servant with authority, to master.
Here, if you feel like it. I’m the guy shawn, and t is the cop.
http://www.copblock.org/58476/an-open-letter-to-the-dover-police-officer-who-called-a-young-woman-a-ghetto-piece-of-shit/
This story has been killing me. I've been praying for this baby.
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