"We need police to catch murderers, thieves and con men, and so we give them special power -- the power to use force on others. Sadly, today’s police use that power to invade people’s homes over accusations of trivial, nonviolent offenses -- and often do it with tanks, battering rams and armor you’d expect on battlefields.
In his book “Rise of the Warrior Cop,” Radley Balko recounts the rise of police SWAT teams (SWAT stands for Special Weapons And Tactics) armed with heavy military equipment. SWAT raids began as rarely used methods of dealing with violent situations, like hostage-takings.
But government always grows.
In the 1970s, there were about 300 SWAT raids per year. “As of 2005,” says Balko, “100 to 150 per day.”
What began as a few specialized groups of police trained to address genuine threats to safety has degenerated into small armies descending on organic farms where farmers sell unpasteurized milk and legal medical marijuana dispensaries getting raided as if they were heavily armed threats.
The increase began under Nixon-era politicians who wanted to look “tough on crime,” even if that meant exaggerating the threat posed by illegal drugs. As the futile war on drugs escalated, cops worried that drug users would destroy evidence if cops knocked and announced themselves. So they stopped doing that, changing a centuries-old rule that treated citizens’ homes as their castles -- castles whose owners must be presented with a warrant before police can enter.
Soon, every police department wanted a SWAT team -- and many were more interested in getting cool military gear than in considering the potential downside -- like terrorizing innocent people, raiding the wrong house and causing violence.
“I found over 50 cases where a completely innocent person was killed in one of these raids,” says Balko."...
You do know in the 1930's and 40's, urban police had machine guns issued, sometimes even beltfed?
But what has been alarming has the weaponization of federal bureaus. In the early days of the FBI, they weren't even issued guns, the agents had to buy pistols themselves. But now the FDA which regulates my company is issuing Walther pistols to their inspectors. Do they really expect their audits to result in gunplay?
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
TWO MOTIVATORS AS I SEE IT EVOLVE: 911 AND THE MASSIVE FUNDING OF LOCAL COPS WITH THE DESIRE OF THE CITIZENS TO BE PROTECTED (MEN, GEAR, TANKS, AUTOMATIC WEPS, HELOCOPTERS, DRONES....ETC, ETC) AND THE ALL VOLUNTEER MILITARY WITH MEN LACKING THE GUTS TO SERVE SO THEY PRETEND TO BE REAL WARRIORS (cops, firemen, etc>)........COWARDS WITH THE GEAR.
Combine that mess with NSA and we have a police state in spades.....Hitler and Stalin are smiling from HELL.
WAR is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The ugliest
is that MAN who thinks nothing is worth fighting and dying for and lets
men BETTER and BRAVER than himself protect him.
