NYPD Announces Bizzare Plan to "improve" relations w/ public: Brandish Machine Guns at Protestors

[99th_Monkey]

Last edited Fri Jan 30, 2015, 01:45 AM - Edit history (1)

BREAKING: NYPD to Permanently Patrol Protests with Machine Guns
Carey Wedler * Januaray 29, 2015 * The Anti-Media.org

(ANTIMEDIA) NEW YORK, NY- NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton announced Thursday that 350 heavily armed NYPD officers, called the “Strategic Response Group,” will soon be patrolling protests and the city at large.
He said the new strain of hyper-armed police will be

“…equipped and trained in ways that our normal patrol officers are not. They’ll be equipped with all the extra heavy protective gear, with the long rifles and machine guns — unfortunately sometimes necessary in these instances.”

Bratton announced their purpose is specifically
“…designed for dealing with events like our recent protests, or incidents like Mumbai or what just happened in Paris.”
Lumping protesters in with terrorists, he said the permanent force will deal with “disorder control and counterterrorism protection capabilities.” It will allegedly assist on crime scenes and help with “crowd control and other large-scale events.”

It is not unusual for authorities to ramp up “security” efforts following attacks (such as the ax attack against officers in October), but the idea of machine-gun clad officers is disturbing, especially considering past NYPD abuses of protesters and other residents. The federal government, which has attempted to feign concern with police brutality, is partially funding the militarized venture. The Department of Homeland Security is supplying resources, as is the city of New York. The Pentagon has previously provided machine guns, ammuniton, and other military gear to New York police and other local cops around the country.

The program is set to begin with two precincts in Queens and two in Manhattan, though Bratton did not specify when. During the announcement at a Police Foundation breakfast at the Mandarin Hotel, Bratton also said his plan was backed by both Mayor Bill de Blasio (who came under fire from cops last year) and the city council.

He said the effort is intended to improve police relations with communities since “regular” police will no longer be called from their local precincts to deal with protests and alleged security threats:

“For years we’ve been asking our officers to engage in the community, but we’ve never given them time to do it, or the training.”

http://theantimedia.org/nypd-to-permanently-patrol-protests-with-machine-guns/

[Suich]

1. How is carrying a machine gun going to improve

community relations??? I remember soldiers riding into NOLA eventually after Katrina. They were sitting on top of an armored personnel carrier and had their rifles pointed at the people watching them. Lt. Gen. Honore went nuts and was riding back and forth yelling at them to put their guns down.

For the sake of argument, I don't care if the NYPD have machine guns at their disposal, as long as they don't walk around carrying them.

[99th_Monkey]

2. Will the NYPD be brandishing machine-guns at pro-cop rallies?

oh wait. I think I already know the answer.

[libodem]

3. It's a private army

For the banks and 1%. I think they call them Brownshirts?

[benz380]

4. NYPD had to come up with some reason to get the surplus weapons from the military. n/t