It changes the way your head works.

[flamin lib]

Putting on military gear, carrying military weapons, wearing gas masks or otherwise obscuring your face and arriving in military vehicles transforms you from a police officer serving the public into a soldier confronting an enemy.

It's inevitable. It happens to everyone who carries a gun from your next door neighbor to street patrol police. Having the tools necessary to deliver deadly force at your fingertips changes you. You'll go places you otherwise wouldn't, do things you otherwise would avoid, all the while thinking you'll survive that gunfight and be the hero.

Militarized police take it more than one step further to a place where you want the confrontation, relish it and hope for it finding every excuse to escalate the situation. Just wearing all the gear increases your adrenaline.

Anybody heard of a bicycle patrolman in spandex and a cycle helment gunning down a suspect?

[pipoman]

1. I agree

Cops in parachute pants, low slung holsters, and flack jackets on street patrols is not only stupid, it's wrong...

[freshwest]

2. Yes. And so are open carry people doing the same. That's where EarlG's picture of the day hits home:

Certain weaponry and gear are for war zones. There is no war going on at Target or restaurants. Now if the cops or wingnuts want to declare that there is a war going on in the USA that requires this, they need to speak out and say so. And the voters need to agree. Otherwise, it's intimidation and provocation, not safety.

[Half-Century Man]

4. In some ways it resembles a famous study.

The Sanford experiment was a study done in 1971 concerning the relationship between prisoners and jailers. It was shut down after 6 days due to abusive behavior.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment (yeah it's wiki, use it as a general overview of the experiment).

Looking at it through a global historical perspective, this is more common the not. It might be kind of hardwired into us. But, isn't that the point of having a civilization, to rise above our baser instincts?

[Rex]

3. Our society does not reflect the level of hostility and militarization

seen in local law enforcement toward the populace. The news never talks about it and we never hear about it...but it is way out of control. The War on Drugs helped create this mess, our cops should NEVER be running around in military garb with military firearms and tanks.

We are NOT that uncivilized. Not anywhere near the level of readiness enforcement has toward civilians. We all became enemy and non-enemy combatants after 9/11. That has never changed and why the DHS was created.

[Adam051188]

6. our owners fear us. they know how badly they've destroyed this country and they're terrified

of getting what they deserve for it.

this is what is behind the militarization of the american police forces.

and the u.s. is probably the most violent developed society in the world. by developed i mean outside of south america, africa, or asia.

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC.IHR.PSRC.P5

[Rex]

8. We are the world's largest nation for incarceration of poor people.

We will lock up a non-violent drug offender, but not a billionaire that raped his own child. The judge basically said he was too big to jail.

Too big to jail. Too big to fail. History says always fail, but nobody ever cares about facts from the past. We live for the moment.

[marlene.elyse]

5. I agree about the Stanford Prison Exp.

The experiment showed that when the students were placed in this environment, the 'guards' started abusing their power and the 'prisoners' started to show signs of real victimization.

the media downplays what is going on because they benefit from the system. Like MLK warned, our society is "spiritually sick". Fox news amps up the fervor but you never see these commando cops at the Bundy ranch--they are making sure black people aren't jaywalking.

[wryter2000]

7. Welcome to DU

[redqueen]

10. Wish I could rec your post.

Very well said.

[littlemissmartypants]

9. Kicking just because this is so f*cking

Right On!!!

Love, Peace and the Righteous Fight.
littlemissmartypants

[redqueen]

11. K&R

Scary times.

[99th_Monkey]

12. If there's a gun introduced in the first act

it will be used before the curtain falls.

This principle is similar to what you are saying. i.e. when these "tools" of oppression and mass murder are deployed, they will be used eventually.

[mindwalker_i]

13. I've been thinking this is similar to when people own guns

I considered getting a gun at some point for the purpose of protecting my wife and I but decided it would be a bad thing to do. If I had a gun, I'd start looking at other people as potential threats, and I wondered how long it would be until I thought about them as potential opportunities to use said gun. I had a freind who got pepper spray and still remember him saying, "I got to use my squirty stuff." A gun could be potentially mind-altering in the way I thought about all other people, including neighbors, people passing by, etc.

With the police and militarization, the same thing appears to be happening. People, especially black people, are opportunities to use their new stuff. But it's not just the police whose brains are being altered here, it's all of the rest of us as well, in that we are beginning to see police not as our protectors but as our jailors. We, the peasants, are being kept in line by the police.

Given that justice is applied to us - not to bankers, the Bush gang for torture, or the rich - the police enforce their wishes on us. We are beginning to feel like slaves.

[Dustlawyer]

14. We are seeing the new play book for ANY DEMONSTRATIONS/PROTESTS/MARCHES in the future!

We will not be allowed to peaceably assemble. OWS caught them off guard, but they recovered quickly. Now they are ready!