The Militarization of America’s Local Police (Infographic)

[unhappycamper]

http://www.juancole.com/2014/04/militarization-americas-infographic.html

The Militarization of America’s Local Police (Infographic)
By Juan Cole | Apr. 1, 2014

[hobbit709]

1. The storm trooper mentality seems to have taken over among police, especially since 2001.

Here in Austin it's gotten especially bad with our new chief.

[DebJ]

2. What does this mean: 'a Department of Education SWAT team'? HUH?

on edit: I did the google and there isn't a SWAT team, but the tactics were similar.

[hobbit709]

3. They have their own police to go after financial fraud.

Everybody and their brother now have some kind of law enforcement in their department.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

19. Which begs us to ask --

Why don't they have investigators to determine whether or not fraud charges are warranted and then send local police to affect the actual arrest? I'm a military/police novice but I wonder why the Education Department feels it needs a SWAT-esque force to pursue non-violent crime.

[hobbit709]

21. Ego. They all want to be gangbusters

[frylock]

22. fear and intimidation

[mrmpa]

4. Back in 1976 I took a class in college.........

It was Comparative Criminal Justice Systems. I wrote a paper about the American system of Police being more militaristic than Police in other countries. I got a B+ on the paper. I wish I still had the paper, and if I wrote it today I would probably get an A.

[hobbit709]

5. The police all think they're Wyatt Earp and mostly they act like Barney Fife.

[zeemike]

11. Barney Fife was harmless

these people are not harmless.

[hobbit709]

15. That's because Barney, unlike these clowns, only had 1 bullet and it was kept in his pocket

[xchrom]

6. du rec.

[bkanderson76]

7. Gestapo....nothing less

[MrScorpio]

8. Good infographic k&r nt

[RoccoR5955]

9. With military cuts coming,

the Military Industrial Complex needs more buyers for their weaponry!

[mwooldri]

10. What would happen if law enforcement were disarmed?

I'm not calling for law enforcement agencies to not have firearms but surely the police would be just as effective if a lot less of them were armed.

I've never had a police officer come by our house just to say hi. But then it's probably a cultural thing... and this isn't Mayberry anymore.

[In_The_Wind]

12. Kicked and recommended

[Javaman]

13. and people worry about posse comitatus. nt

[The Wizard]

14. I know a few officers

who are genuinely good people and are there to protect and serve while they protect without resorting to hyper aggression. They enjoy being helpful.
The unfortunate reality is that police training is militarized and so is the weaponry. Many believe it is an us against them system with the average citizen being "them."
That they rely on each other for support in dangerous situations lends to the thin blue line wherein officers cover for one another. The bad cops know this and use it to abuse their positions and authority.
The militarization of the police is the tarnished legacy of three presidents whose skewed view of the world will put the among History's worst. Nixon, Reagan and Bush 43. One of the characteristics they all shared was the use of coded language to create an us against then environment.
As we witnessed during the Occupy demonstrations, some police use brutal tactics without good cause. I feel sorry for the police who go out every day to really protect and serve the general population and are part of a culture that encourages them to cover for the bad players among their ranks.
It's a complex situation for which there is no easy answer.
If something isn't done soon to rectify this abhorrent abuse of the citizenry, we will devolve into an even more violent culture that will be in fear of walking in the street.
We should feel safe in the presence of law enforcement, not fearful.

[L0oniX]

17. People now run from the police ...not because they did anything wrong.

[truedelphi]

27. THis OP and every thing you added shows a real cause

For concern. I t should also be a cause for concern that the SWAT TEAMS use google maps for their way to find the location of the targeted individual, and those maps can be off by six hundred feet and more.

People are getting rousted in the middle of the night, family dogs killed, toddlers shoved to the floor, the elderly thrown about, and God forbid you grab a gun or rifle to protect yourself. And then it turns out the SWAT folks were at the wrong house! (Oops!)

[L0oniX]

16. Don't worry be happy.

[4Q2u2]

18. I see a lot of BD Wannabee's

in those videos. All those Clown suits and no Circus to go to. MRAPS were fine for Iraq but were pretty much useless in a lot of Afghanistan due to weight. These small towns may also not realize this until after the take control of them. Per axle weight is way over Small Bridge standards and will cause lots of damage. Repair and maintenance on these are hell and expensive. Shipping them also cost and arm and a leg. Not to mention that their design in the first couple of phases was not fully thought out we could not fly them in our planes unless stripped to the bones. So we used Russian transport planes to fly tons of them all over the world. I wonder how well that will work out today?

[penultimate]

20. We give our police 'tanks', but we won't give the Coast Guard an aircraft carrier...

LAME!

I was working for a smallish county government once, and they had five armored vehicles. It's even more crazy because it bordered two much larger counties/cities that most likely had their own armored vehicles. Just what exactly do they think is going to happen that would require that much equipment? You'd think they would be able to get by with none and just call in the larger city's stuff if a situation came up that required such equipment.

[bvar22]

23. This is infuriating because they are using OUR money...

...to arm themselves against US.
This kind of hardware is NOT necessary to catch burglars, bank robbers, or even the dreaded terrorists.
It is useful ONLY to control and kill mass groups of citizens after they realize how badly they have been screwed by the 1%.

[Dawson Leery]

24. Eliminate the 1033 program (transfer of military equiptment to police) and Byrne grants.

[Blue_Tires]

25. +1

[truedelphi]

26. That would be great. But it will never happen. n/t

[Dawson Leery]

28. I would add I am opposed to law enforcement unions.

They are very much so part of the problem.