Americans Are Living (And Dying) In A Militarized Police State

[babylonsister]

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/60717

Americans Are Living (And Dying) In A Militarized Police State
Dave Gibson
May 05, 2008


Today, police departments across the United States more closely resemble an occupying army than they do public servants responding to calls for help. Police officers can now be seen wearing helmets and body armor and carrying AR-15's, just to deliver simple warrants. The militarization of our police departments not only gives the appearance of a military dictatorship but places the public at great risk.

No less than 70 percent of U.S. cities now have SWAT teams. In cities with a population of 50,000 or more, 90 percent have SWAT teams.

Eastern Kentucky University professor Peter Kraska told the Washington Post that SWAT teams are currently sent out 40,000 times a year in the U.S. During the 1980's, SWAT teams were only used 3,000 times a year. Most of the time, SWAT teams are being sent out to simply serve warrants on non-violent drug offenders.

Many municipalities are using Homeland Security grants to even purchase large armored vehicles. The Pittsburgh Police Department now uses their 20-ton armored truck complete with rotating turret and gun ports to deliver many of their warrants. Pittsburgh Police Sgt. Barry Budd recently told the Associate Press: "We live on being prepared for 'what if'."

Our police departments now regularly receive free surplus equipment from the U.S. military, which they readily accept. The training being given at many police academies appears to be the type of tactics one would use in Baghdad, rather than Baltimore. It would seem that our police officers are being readied for war, with the American public as the enemy. In the last several years, there has been a transformation from community policing to pre-emptive assaults

snip//

Did someone declare martial law?

[Prophet 451]

1. Not yet... n/t

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Gone are the days when police were your 'friends' and that was taught to young children. I've

been concerned about this problem since my last visit to Washington DC, which looked exactly like a police state.

[formercia]

3. Creeping dictatorship

Junior's buddies in the armaments business are making Billions in the process.


Some day, Junior will sign an order and it will be all over.


The infrastructure is in place and there are hundreds of thousands of Iraq vets, trained to subdue a civilian population.

[rdenney]

7. The days of trusting police on or with anything at all are gone. I wish it was still like this:

Alas, it will never be like that again :-(

[formercia]

8. My 7 year old son and I went to Town Hall

As we were leaving, he said "Look out dad, there's a cop behind you."

Even the children have been conditioned to fear the police. He didn't get it from us.

I replied." he's our friend. He will protect us from bad people." I wish it were true.

I think the conditioning is intentional.

Fear is a great pacifier.

[rdenney]

9. IMO children are smart enough to know who the "bad guys" are when they wear black Kevlar and break .

into peoples homes with a battering ram and start shooting up the place.

All of these "COPS" and similar TV shows are probably scaring them into understanding that the "boogieman" often comes wearing a badge and a vest that says POLICE, DEA, FBI or SHERIFF on it.

I am very glad that I am older and can remember a time when police were not the
black-clad thugs that they are today.

[truedelphi]

4. Conservatives and even neo cons are more upset abt the unfolding Police Action

Against the FLDS in Texas.

Too often, "liberals" just say, "Child molestation is bad, and I don't care for the philosophy of this or that Church, so who cares what happens at Fill in the Blank (First Waco, and now The FLDS compound) But instead, I always remember the proverb of "First they came for the communists, but I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Union leaders, but I wasn't a Union leader etc." I get upset regardless of who they come for.

Rumors are spreading across the internets that Blackwater served as the police force that separated the women from the children.
For whatever reason it was deemed far better to take the children away from their parents and put them in shelters and foster care than to arrest those who might have been guilty of bedding down with underage children.

ANd here's more - A Personal Rant on a Blog - The author is one Timothy V Gatto

The most disturbing part of this entire episode is the follow-up of this story. Since April 8th, when the airwaves were blasted with video of the women being “rescued” and the church compound almost 24/7, the reports from the area abruptly stopped.

This just happened to occur at the same time that authorities admitted that they couldn’t find the “mystery caller”. I can’t believe that I am the only person in the country wondering what has happened since. I have a hard time understanding why the networks aren’t asking the government why they had to trample on the Bill of Rights. I want to know where the women who were “rescued” are now. I want to know if The First Baptist Church is still caring for them. I want to know why they couldn’t wait until they had solid evidence before they pulled this raid.

I want to know if anyone was disciplined for violating just about every amendment that comprises the Bill of Rights. Most importantly however, I want to know why the mainstream media has not followed up on this critically important story.
#######################################

As far as the last two sentences - I add my own personal "Amen!"

How come these police (or whoever) are taking actions tantamount to punishing/arresting the innocents involved? Why not go after the adult male perps?

Why do the network news people fail to ask the important questions? People, this is a police action on our soil.

In my opinion, we all need to think abt this. You go to a peace demonstration to protest the coming war in Iran. And a week later, your kids are taken from you because a lady, no identity offered, at a pay phone in Denver says she knows that you and your spouse are molesting your children. And that therefore the authorities are gonna put your kids in homeless shelters or in foster care. And if you have a problem with that, you can go molest yourself!!

[rdenney]

13. The "mystery caller" is a simple plan the cops have been using for "probable cause":

Here is how it works: (and I suppose it would work for non-police criminals, as well)

You buy or even steal a used cell-phone that has been off of a plan so that it is no longer registered to the caller or on a carrier, then you simply dial "911", as calling "911" still works even if the phone is not activated or has had its service turned off by the owner or carrier, thanks to the "911" service fee everyone pays on their cell-phone bill. (yes, its right there in black and white)

Then you make the call and report whatever falsehood you wish to make up to the 911 operator, give them a fake name of some kind and make sure the cops are going to "investigate" whomever you turn
them in on.

After that its a simple matter of getting rid of the phone somewhere where no one will ever find it or destroy it in some manner or another so that it cannot be even be found or or operated again.

How do I know all of this? Because it happened to me and I was and am an innocent person, thats how.

The moral of this story is that if you think you are law-abiding and that you will never see the inside of a police car of a jail cell, think again. The COPS are NOT your friends and they can, will and do lie in court all the time to obtain a conviction.

They are almost never prosecuted for perjury when it comes up, and most often, it does not.

Fortunately for me I knew my constitutional rights and I shut up until I could sort out their bullshit and speak with a lawyer about the case and find out what really happened.

Too many people in this "free country" are not in any way ready for such a "close encounter" at all.

[gateley]

5. Martial law hasn't been declared, but it'll be upon us with barely a whisper.

We're getting there, step by step. Frogs in boiling water.

[OhioChick]

6. K&R

:kick:

[katty]

10. rise of the fascist regime

[FiveGoodMen]

11. This is what you get when the public demands "tough on crime"

...and watches those damned Cops shows.

[rdenney]

12. I agree. Those COP shows should be banned just like tobacco or porno. They do nothing but contribute

to violence, police or otherwise. I do not watch them as they make me disgusted.

I am told that they are the most heavily watched TV shows in prisons and jail cells because they give ideas on how the police make raids, that way the police are doing nothing but training criminals into being better at their illegal trades when they are released.

[FiveGoodMen]

14. "they give ideas on how the police make raids"

Never thought of that one.

Interesting twist.