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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMilitarized Police and the Threat to Democracy, by Dennis Kucinich
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dennis-j-kucinich/police-militarization_b_5687598.htmlPosted: 08/18/2014 11:18 am EDT Updated: 1 hour ago
As a former big city mayor of a racially diverse city, Cleveland, Ohio, I can understand the cross currents sweeping through Ferguson, Missouri.
We are at a moment of national crisis in the way our domestic law enforcement is being conducted. The killing of an unarmed civilian by a law enforcement officer is, sadly, not unique. But the police response to the protests has provided a powerful cautionary moment for America. The militarization of local police has led to the arrival today in Ferguson of the actual military, the National Guard.
This crisis comes from:
1) The erosion of a principle in federal law, Posse Comitatus, meant to restrict the use of the military in civilian law enforcement;
2) The Pentagon's dispersal of military equipment to domestic police units, which has increased since 9/11;
3) Military-style police training reliant upon weaponry, as opposed to peace keeping, including skills development for de-escalation of violent tensions.
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quick review of pertinent American history:
The Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770, was a catalyst toward the American Revolution. Five civilians were killed by the British soldiers. The Declaration of Independence, in condemning the offenses against liberty by George III, stated:
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.
He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us
For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states
From our earliest beginnings, when John Adams spoke to "the dangers of standing armies," Americans have demanded accountability and rejected military presence in our daily lives.
...more...
agbdf
(200 posts)I didn't have a problem with this before - I gave it little thought. But, as has
happended more than once, Dennis Kucinich has caused me to rethink my position.
G_j
(40,366 posts)damnedifIknow
(3,183 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,112 posts)Thanks for the thread, G_j.
Dark n Stormy Knight
(9,760 posts)KoKo
(84,711 posts)Last edited Tue Aug 19, 2014, 09:40 AM - Edit history (1)
(Some here don't like to go to HuffPo because of the clutter (I don't like to myself) but this is an important article from Dennis and worth a whole read. For those who won't go there or don't have the bandwidth...here's a bit more)
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What Dennis Proposes from His Article:
1. Congress must firmly re-establish the firewall between civilian law enforcement and the military by reinstating the intent of the Posse Comitatus law. As member of Congress I warned in 2007 the dangers of a bill which permitted the government to put troops on the ground in the US.
2. The Department of Defense must stop providing war-fighting equipment to local law enforcement.
3. All equipment provided to local law enforcement by the Department of Defense, must be inventoried and stored, not used except under an executive order from the top civilian authority in a state, the Governor, or under orders of the President of the United States.
4. The General Accounting Office and the Inspector General of the Department of Defense must be asked by Congress to determine the extent to which the training and equipping of local police by the DOD has created a culture in local law enforcement which is adverse to democratic values.
5. The Justice Department needs to fund programs which will train or retrain local law enforcement in racial sensitivity, constitutional protections of suspects, including the right to freedom of speech and right to assemble.
6. The Justice Department must also fund, support and mandate that all local law enforcement receiving any federal funds whatsoever create community programs for dialogue between local police and people in the neighborhood. Local police become an occupying army through emotional distancing, fear and lack of contact with the community. That can change by having police and the community meet regularly to discuss mutual concerns.
Those who serve in local law enforcement are given special trust, special dispensation to serve and protect. Their work is essential. Local police would like to be supported. But we must demand strict adherence to the Constitution and protection of the freedoms given to us by the Bill of Rights.
thank you
KoKo
(84,711 posts)Savannahmann
(3,891 posts)Because I think it's important to know that there are a few elected officials besides Rand Paul pushing this idea.
wildbilln864
(13,382 posts)Zorra
(27,670 posts)KoKo
(84,711 posts)And we lost others in states across America in 2012...Gerrymandered out..
We needed his voice (even though he was "Under the Bus" for Dems) his voice needed to be heard ....and even more as the dire times continue.
and the relentless attacks on him were/are no accident. They have spread many a meme about him being "bat shit crazy", but he remains as based in commen sense, compassion and intelligence as ever.
Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)And was not above playing racial politics as mayor, playing Black voters off against any Democratic challengers.
Kucinich has a sordid past that many here know nothing about.
It's frightening
Boreal
(725 posts)I posted this earlier, in the "Scariest picture" thread with the guy with the sniper rifle on the military vehicle:
Because the Posse Comitatus Act prevented military from being used against US citizens, the federal government simply went around it and militarized local LE. With the creation of Homeland Security it even got worse and additional work-arounds were created (for instance the Coast Guard was put under DHS). The federal government is pouring grant money, training and military equipment into local LE depts and they are brainwashing the likes of officer Dickbag. Who was once just some loser bully who became a cop is now a Marine (so he imagines himself) and all of us (black, white, hispanic, doesn't matter, left, right, apathetic, doesn't matter) are the enemy. In Dickbag's head, he's in some virtual reality where he's in Iraq and we're insurgents. In a few days "training", DHS has these assholes all pumped up and feeling badass but with a siege mentality of us against them.
Something else I've been noticing for quite a while now, and that MO State Police dude used the term last night, is cops calling us "civilians", indicating that they aren't. Well, domestic LE ARE civilians. We have (or are supposed to have) civilian LE in this country. Military are not civil LE. So this is more proof of how these knuckle dragger cops have been brainwashed by the feds and it's a serious problem. Keep your ears open for them calling us civilians and you'll be shocked how often they speak like that. Oh, btw, such language also conditions the uneducated public into buying that we are civilians and the cops are not.