Does anyone else think cops are actually becoming emboldened by recent events?

[indie9197]

I am losing count but a lot of human beings have been killed or severely beaten by cops in the last month or so for no apparent reason. There is really no backlash except in Ferguson. You read the stories and then they are forgotten. It seems the cops are ruling the country right now. I don't watch the news but apparently it is OK. Am I paranoid? How much worse will things get? I am a conspiracy theorist at heart- forgive me, but is this the plan?

[truedelphi]

1. I HAVE NO idea of the credibility of this website -

and same lack of information regarding the following link:

http://investmentwatchblog.com/dhs-is-employing-agent-provocateurs-and-are-behind-the-events-in-ferguson/#VuBDx3OuQhAEJF5F.99

But the theory is that the Homeland Security people are now fully in charge of training the local police. And that it is irrelevant where you are living, as your local police have probably spent time being "handled by DHS."

And the article above goes on to posit that DHS was behind agitators coming into Ferguson and destroying property while the police looked on.

If any of this is true, then it is beyond scarey, as we are probably then about to witness the "Kristelnacht" of numerous African American communities.

However the article does account for disturbing events I witnessed on TV while watching CNN cover the Ferguson situation. For instance, that one Sunday night, August 17th, I saw CNN show us totally a streetful of peaceful protesters, with even the damn CNN Talking Head saying that only the peaceful members of the rallies were on the streets. And then, WHAM, this dry land armada of MRAPs with the snipers on top of them and the police line in front of them, and the police start throwing tear gas canisters into the peaceful crowd... What The Fuck! Then when some protester throws one of the tear gas canisters back, a different CNN Talking Head says that the protesters are using fire bombs against the police!

[indie9197]

4. nothing would surprise me- DHS, FBI, CIA, are all above the law

and have been known to instigate a few things

[Man from Pickens]

25. It's worse than you imagine

They are REQUIRED (by the Dept. of Defense) to use the military toys within a year of getting them or they lose them.

http://www.allgov.com/news/top-stories/tanks-on-the-streets-police-required-to-use-military-equipment-within-a-year-or-return-it-140826?news=854075

When the Pentagon drops a tank and a bunch of automatic weapons on a local PD which has no real need of them, the PD has a very strong incentive (hundreds of thousands in free stuff) to invent a reason to use them.

[indie9197]

32. I'm sure I am speaking to the choir here

but 911 was the turning point. Make your own conclusions.

[arcane1]

2. It's also possible more events are being reported since it's a trending topic at the moment

If the frequency of events is increasing, that's something to worry about!

[indie9197]

3. The lack of response from the police is troubling. As if they don't have to respond. n/t

[TorchTheWitch]

8. They never do before the investigation is complete

And that goes for anything they're investigating. There are very good reasons for not divulging anything until after the investigation is complete.

[salin]

6. I think there is increased attention (and I hope it is sustained)

I also think that after Sandyhook there has been a change in approach in training response to "active shooters". I have now, as part of a school community, been part of 3 active shooter trainings since Dec. 2012. During which we are told to get out of the way of first responders because post Columbine the practice was to go straight to the shooter and take him(her) down before more casualties could be claimed. It is an intense and frightening training - and each time it was more aggressive. You can bet that the training for police is far more intense.

Add to that what to do with all of this extra military surplus equipment (because we can't cut our fed spending on the military industrial complex).

Then add the economic uncertainty that most of us (have somes and have nots) experience on a regular basis that leave us stressed and cranky.

Finally add racism now overtly pumped and fueled on the rw airwaves (ala "the unaccompanied minors flooding our borders are going to spread Ebola!", and worse) and unfiltered assumptions of "evil doing" that is perpetually hyped by the right.

TOXIC mix.

I think that there are a mix of factors that have turned what used to be extreme cases of police brutality (not nec. lethal) into a lethal mix.

I worry for our humanity.

However, I am thankful for the coverage - and as sickening as it is to read of multiple cases in days of one another - I think it is powerful for us, as a society, to have to be confronted with it. Meanwhile the awful rhetoric from the right with their tin ears, smarmy confirmations of racism (all while claiming others are "playing the race card&quot are waking a lot of folks who just don't pay attention.

Like the beginnings of OWS - this is capturing attention in a way that protests to distant wars didn't. But this is even more visceral than OWS. Rather than figuratively being about our life and death - this is literally about life or death.

[indie9197]

9. With all due respect I am not talking about active shooters

I am talking about people that may have mental illness, they may be suffering from diabetes, who knows? The cops certainly don't know. Someone could be headed for a diabetic coma and the cops may think they are drunk and put 12 or 13 rounds into them. There needs to be a complete overhaul of the system.

[salin]

12. My point isn't about active shooters

and I apologize for not being clear. It is the mindset pushed in the trainings.

It appears to me that all of these incidents show a level of aggression and lack of carefulness (per check that you have the right person) - that I think the years of emphasis on that type of training has infiltrated the mindset of going into far less escalated situations. As you describe there is so much lethal overkill. Only after reading of several of these incidents - and going through one more training (again, granted a training for a very different situation), did I begin to ponder a potential connection per the lethal aggression/overkill. Then again, I could be way off base. Brutality is not new. Overdoing the brutality is not new. The brutality becoming regularly lethal is new. Overdoing that degree of lethalness (12+ shots) seems to be relatively new.

I would be very interested to speaking to a policeman who has been serving since the mid 90s to their impression of the training and the subsequent mindset of their peers comparing 1997 to 2014. Again - I could be far off base. But is it something that has changed within recent years (per the trainings and approaches - which put taking the shooter down first, and not worrying about other casualties in the doing - as they are instructed to "get out of the way&quot , and I am beginning to think that it might be one of a multitude of factors (that I state in my earlier post.) I don't say this to justify in anyway. I just have a habit of trying to figure out how things got so far out of skew.

Regardless - it is insane. It is intolerable. It HAS to be stopped. I agree with you that a complete overhaul is needed.

[HereSince1628]

16. Yes, I'd like answers too but,

there seems to be much concern by police about protecting TTP: tactics, techniques, and procedures. So I am not sure a cop would actually feel free to tell the truth.

Protecting TTPs is part of the argument against photographing policing. That sort of thinking seems to follow from believing that they have organized "enemies" who collect intelligence and use it for counter-force training and operations. IMO, that's the sort of thinking of special operations units who confront organized 'plots'.

One of the procedures employed repeatedly by common street police appears to be shouting "Stop resisting! Quit resisting!", regardless of whether there is any resistance at all. This may have an intimidating effect on a suspect, but it also projects onto witnesses and gives an impression to the public that the police aggression is warranted and perhaps even required. It also projects onto fellow officers and may encourage them to join in on the application of pain as a means to achieve compliance.

I'd really like to know if they are taught that in academy or if they pick it up from their supervising/training officers when they get onto a police force.

But, I don't expect to ever know.

[indie9197]

33. It is almost like the cops now want to escalate the situation instead of keep it low

For example, they will follow a shoplifter out to their car, and get in front of it. If the car moves towards them they have a license to shoot. That is not acceptable.

[Lurks Often]

20. Regarding "extra military surplus equipment"

that was due to the increase in soldiers dying in IED blasts while driving HUMVEES* in Iraq and Afghanistan and the outrage among the general public at those deaths and that the military "DO SOMETHING". This resulted in the MRAPS being purchased in large numbers. While this certainly saved a lot of soldiers lives, the MRAP borders on useless for conventional warfare.

This left us with a lot of MRAPS that the military didn't want and couldn't use, so they had the options of storing them or disposing of them, which would have cost even more money to do, or give them away to whoever wanted them, be it police here in the United States or allies overseas (before they were shipped back to the US).


* The HUMVEE was designed as a general purpose vehicle, it was never intended to be used in the circumstances forced upon it in Iraq, partly because of streets too narrow for Infantry Fighting Vehicles and tanks and partly because soldiers riding around in a closed up Infantry Fighting Vehicle sent the wrong image to the average Iraqi citizen not fighting against us.

[salin]

22. helpful background

thanks.

[Downwinder]

5. Law enforcement is part of the security establishment.

From the NSA, CIA, FBI, and DHS on down there is no real accountability.

I asked the local DA after he was elected, "Who was supposed to see that law enforcement obeyed the law?"

His answer was, "That's not my job."

So , whose job is it?

[tblue37]

29. Who will watch the watchers? nt

[adirondacker]

7. Activists Sound Alarm as More Police Departments Consider Using Drones...

"Police departments in the U.S. are increasingly considering the use of drones as a law enforcement tool, even as civil rights groups and media turn up scrutiny of police militarization in the wake of brutal crackdowns on anti-brutality protesters in Ferguson, Missouri and other cities.

The Baltimore Sun reported on Sunday that agencies in several Maryland counties are considering testing drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), for intelligence gathering and "high-risk tactical raids." That news comes less than a week after anti-war activists in California protested against "mission creep" by the Los Angeles Police Department, which recently acquired several of their own drones. Indiana police departments also recently announced their plan to pursue adding drones to their weapons arsenal.

In a letter (pdf) to LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, Drone-Free LA spokesperson Hamid Kahn expressed "deep concerns about the recent 'gifting' of two Draganflyer X Drones" by the Seattle Police Department to the LAPD. "We believe the acquisition of drones signifies a giant step forward in the militarization of local law enforcement that is normalizing continued surveillance and violations of human rights of our communities," Kahn wrote.

The SPD originally purchased the unmanned aerial vehicles using a federal grant called the Urban Areas Security Initiative — a common example of the effects of the government's pervasive, $34-billion militarization program that enables domestic police departments to acquire and trade tools and weapons intended for warfare. In a June press conference, LAPD chief Charlie Beck said drones would be useful in "standoffs, perimeters, suspects hiding," and defended the department's acquisition of the UAVs by stating, "When retailers start talking about using them to deliver packages, we would be silly not to at least have a discussion of whether we want to use them in law enforcement."

SNIP

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/08/26/activists-sound-alarm-more-police-departments-consider-using-drones

[Populist_Prole]

10. Do or die "shock & awe"?

To maintain the momentum? Their thinking may be if they double down on the brutal fascist tactics in one big titanic assault, the populace will at once recognize their relative powerlessness and accede.

If they quit or back down, then it's down the slippery slope?

[MoleyRusselsWart]

11. They've been preparing

For the inevitable massive civil unrest for a long time. Occupy was a huge wake up call, they ain't letting anything like that even get started again. Their goal is to terrorize into submission all but a small, manageable number of the most brazen citizens.

They aren't out of control, they are incompetent. They are behaving as trained and following orders.

[DonCoquixote]

13. Very much so

because they see Fox news defend them.

[paulkienitz]

14. I think we're just finally paying full attention

The level of cop abuse has probably been rising, but gradually.

[daschess1987]

15. "but is this the plan?"

That's no conspiracy theory. There is no longer the slightest illusion of freedom in this country.

[logosoco]

17. Sometimes my mind gets a little paranoid and fearful, too!

But then the hopeful side of me kicks in! I think this is a time when cops are mad because so much of their activities is being recorded by citizens. They can't get away with what they are used to. I think they have been used to having their words and reports taken at face value. But now they can't "set the scene" anymore. Cops have been doing this for ages (I am almost 50 and it was going on when I was a teen, but there was no way to document it like there is now). I think Ferguson was the straw that broke the camels back.

The times they are a changin' and hopefully for the better.

[MindPilot]

18. No doubt n/t

[RiffRandell]

19. Yes. nt

[Lurks Often]

21. Not really

Aside from the SWAT raids, things probably haven't changed much, it is just it is making the news now, when in the past it never did. A byproduct of the 24/7 news cycle and the need for better ratings.

[HipChick]

23. It has always been like that for the black community

Ferguson put the spotlight on the roaches

[Brickbat]

24. Not the ones in my community.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

27. I like to think that about my community, too.

I hope I am right in thinking it.

[Brickbat]

28. I know I am, because I know them.

Small community.

[oldandhappy]

26. I have had the same thot lately

There seems to be no accountability. And, I think it depends on the state. I am feeling safe but I would not want to live in some of the places where these things happen -- and I am not African American. I am aware I am not targeted. Still, I do not want to live where these things happen.

[hifiguy]

30. Of course. Cops know they will

never be held accountable in any meaningful way for even the most egregious abuses of power. Failure to punish cops' bad behavior generates more bad behavior and profoundly alters the institutional mindset in destructive ways.

[Lint Head]

31. I think it's obvious. We are heading toward a more controlled police state if

something is not done. We are already under the thumb of theocratic corporate fascists. Now it's time for their wholly owned police forces to tighten their grip on the 99%.

Warrant less searches, detainment without charge and more are now the norm. I even had a lawyer, who was doing some work for me, tell me that Miranda Rights mean nothing any longer. Money is power and those without it have no power. One may say, "Well. You have the vote!" That would be true if the very candidates we have to chose from were not controlled by powerfully monied interests. Hell we even have prison inmates making chicken patties for corporate interests. That's called slavery.

Take money out of damn politics and take the damn tanks and rocket launchers out of the hands of the local police. If terrorism is to be fought let the National Guard do it. They ARE the military.

[ecstatic]

34. There's a big story in Atlanta about a cop shooting a guy in the leg

rather than shooting to kill. She's taking a lot of criticism from other cops, since apparently, they're trained to shoot to kill. My point is, at least one cop decided not to execute someone when given the chance, and that's a good thing. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them are set in their ways and will never change. It's just that more of us are filming them now.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/27/atlanta-down/14716283/

[Wella]

35. I think we're just finding out how bad it's already gotten

I just hope we can turn the tide back.