town disarms and expels cops

[gejohnston]

This probably belongs in Environment and Energy, or perhaps both since this overlaps both groups. No, I'm not suggesting folks in Chicago and DC need or should be this drastic.

The question is, those who are against people defending themselves against common street thugs or carrying to defend themselves and should rely on the cops to magically appear, are these people uncivilized vigilantes? Where is that line?

The woman’s exhausted eyes reflected the flames dancing in front of her. A 38-year-old grandmother, she is also a leader of the civilian insurgency that has taken over this mountain town in the state of Michoacán, 310 miles west of Mexico City. Sixteen months of cold and sleepless nights at Bonfire No. 17, one of a number of permanent burning barricades set up here, have taken their toll.
But like the rest of the residents, she cannot afford to let her guard down.
On the morning of April 15, 2011, using rocks and fireworks, a group of women attacked a busload of AK-47-armed illegal loggers as they drove through Cherán, residents said. The loggers, who local residents say are protected by one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organizations and given a virtual free pass by the country’s authorities, had terrorized the community at will for years.

snip...........

In the months since then, Cherán’s townspeople have established a simple but effective internal protection system. There are fewer bonfires today, but several remain active and a security patrol of residents, or “ronda,” keeps watch at all times. Armed townspeople — from middle-age men to teenage girls — guard the barricades blocking all entrances into town. Their weapons are AR15 assault rifles, seized from the police when they expelled them.
Inside the town, they say, crime is now down almost to zero and most residents seem to feel safe. In recent days, however, people from nearby communities have taken several federal police officers captive, demanding that the newly instated forest patrols be canceled so that they can continue their logging activities. (The officers have since been released.) It is unclear if the hostage-takers were illegal loggers, but tensions are flaring in Cherán as the rest of the country looks on with concern.
Last November, in a court appeal, Cherán acquired a degree of autonomy from the Mexican government; the town still receives federal and state money, and its people must pay taxes, but they are allowed to govern themselves under a legal framework called “uses and customs” that has been granted to some indigenous communities.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48478168/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times/t/diy-justice-mexico-town-expels-cops-reclaims-forest-illegal-loggers/#.UCGVnTn_6Gi

[rfranklin]

1. Not relevant to the USA in the least...

what's your point?

[gejohnston]

3. the point was

the line between vigilantism and properly replacing an ineffective force when the State fails to do the job.
Given the level of corruption of the Mexican government (and its deaf ear to anyone but the few oligarchs), one wonders if Mexico passed its 1960s laws to prevent something like this, since they were concerned about "revolutionaries"

[GreenStormCloud]

2. Since the armed citizens are acting as part of a collective.

...I would say that the townspeople got rid of ineffective police and organized a new effective police. The guards aren't acting as individuals but as part of the town government. Even the guns aren't individually owned but were supplied by the government.

[gejohnston]

4. more accurately, confiscated from the government

but I see your point.