The brutal crackdown on public protests in Ferguson, Missouri has brought a lot of new light to the problem of the militarization of America’s local police forces, which are awash in a slew of Pentagon weapons and vehicles.
Police killing an unarmed teenager with impunity, a problem all too common in the United States these days, was compounded by a harsh military reaction against protesters in the wake of the incident, and the police saw fit to double-down attacking and arresting journalists who were covering the demonstrations.
It was a case of classic overreach, and with growing public outrage at the situation, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon declared the city looked “like a war zone, and that’s unacceptable,” and replaced the local police with state Highway Patrol forces.
The Highway Patrol arrived without the SWAT and military gear of the officers they were replacing, and announced they were going to “break this cycle of violence,” an announcement met by cheers.
The first evening with the Highway Patrol in charge saw a return of calm, as protests continued, but without police throwing tear gas at everyone who moves.
People in this and all other progressive forum needs to start using the right words, US is a militarism regime and due to its political and social economic system the US has become a police state, the next step for USG is to admit that they also sponsor Neo fascism and terrorism, as they have and are supporting Neo fascism in Ukraine and ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
no a real police state would have escalated to assault on Gaza levels.
Don't worry, you get there before you know it.
Probably not enough scrutiny. Is anyone going to lose is job over this? I don't know, like the guy who runs the "police" over there? Two weeks from now when this is all forgotten, it'll be back to business as usual till the next time. Meanwhile, "police" keep killing innocents and if they happen to be non-black, it won't even make the local news.
A modest proposal:
Require police departments receiving expensive military equipment pay for it by supplying services to the Department of Defense in overseas deployments.
Time and again we hear about the need for police trainers in Afghanistan and Iraq– and American police departments certainly have an insatiable appetite for military gear. It could be a win-win situation allowing swat team members to experience contact with insurgents who share the former's lack of concern for legal niceties. Perhaps the two will be able to bond and secure new levels of understanding between peoples–
Think of it, . . . a chance to don battle rattle and confront people who will never be able to sue you or egg your patrol car. And one year minimum deployments would allow even small American police departments to pay for their gear with just 3 or 4 officers annually. I'm sure there would be no shortage of police officers chaffing at the bit to get at RPG toting jaywalkers.
Certainly something to think about!
These SWAT militants should be stripped of their US citizenship and deported to Israel, the land of thugs.
I'm sure many of you have seen some of what is going on in our U.S. prisons; hoods, and electrodes as like those scenes of Abu Ghraib. It is as if Donald Rumsfeld himself has taken over the nation's prison systems.
Wonder if it was Benjamin Netanyahu who ordered the crackdown on those protesters?
Not enough 155mm
Which begs the question, with Empire USA being a slave owners paradise since 1776, can a people’s rebellion finally turn all things toward the good? I think so.
What the Hell? This isn't Gaza! We aren't Palestinians! Our local police DO NOT need to go and train in goddamned ISRAEL!!! People shouldn't be surprised, the NYPD has a freakin office there and if you take SWAT tactics to the next level, mix in training the police by em effing foreigners with a little occupation problem to treat ALL citizens like suspected terrorists and WHAMMO! You get crap like this!
This looks like the doings of a 3rd World police state! Militarized cops make me sad to be American!
It's like watching "District 9".
But these Ferguson guys already have a bad rap sheet (and also a "clean record", wink wink nudge nudge):
http://rt.com/usa/180680-ferguson-henry-davis-blo…
When The Daily Beast caught up this week with Schottel, Davis’ attorney, he told them that rumors of the Ferguson Police Department firing multiple shots at Brown last week didn’t surprise him.
“I said I already know about Ferguson, nothing new can faze me about Ferguson,” he told the website.
I'm surprised that this story doesn't mention that things cooled off significantly when a local veteran black state patrol officer was put in charge and told those in his command to go back to their standard uniforms and equipment.