Why do Liberals and Progressives fear Militarized Police?

[The2ndAmendment]

I'm trying to figure this out, help me Progressives. Why do you fear the militarization of the police?

 

[Lakhota]

Only chickenshit NaziCons want gestapo cops.

 

[Lakhota]

To Terrify and Occupy

How the Excessive Militarization of the Police Is Turning Cops Into Counterinsurgents

Jason Westcott was afraid.

One night last fall, he discovered via Facebook that a friend of a friend was planning with some co-conspirators to break in to his home. They were intent on stealing Wescott's handgun and a couple of TV sets. According to the Facebook message, the suspect was planning on "burning" Westcott, who promptly called the Tampa Bay police and reported the plot.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, the investigating officers responding to Westcott's call had a simple message for him: "If anyone breaks into this house, grab your gun and shoot to kill."

Around 7:30 p.m. on May 27, the intruders arrived. Westcott followed the officers' advice, grabbed his gun to defend his home, and died pointing it at the intruders. They used a semiautomatic shotgun and handgun to shoot down the 29-year-old motorcycle mechanic. He was hit three times, once in the arm and twice in his side, and pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

The intruders, however, weren't small-time crooks looking to make a small score. Rather they were members of the Tampa Bay Police Department's SWAT team, which was executing a search warrant on suspicion that Westcott and his partner were marijuana dealers. They had been tipped off by a confidential informant, whom they drove to Westcott's home four times between February and May to purchase small amounts of marijuana, at $20-$60 a pop. The informer notified police that he saw two handguns in the home, which was why the Tampa Bay police deployed a SWAT team to execute the search warrant.

In the end, the same police department that told Westcott to protect his home with defensive force killed him when he did. After searching his small rental, the cops indeed found weed, two dollars' worth, and one legal handgun -- the one he was clutching when the bullets ripped into him.

Welcome to a new era of American policing, where cops increasingly see themselves as soldiers occupying enemy territory, often with the help of Uncle Sam's armory, and where even nonviolent crimes are met with overwhelming force and brutality.

Much More: To Terrify and Occupy*|*Matthew Harwood

It's really getting ugly.

 

[The2ndAmendment]

Only chickenshit NaziCons want gestapo cops.

Answer the question: Why do you fear militarized police?

 

[Lakhota]

Only chickenshit NaziCons want gestapo cops.

Answer the question: Why do you fear militarized police?

Ask the residents of Ferguson, Missouri.

 

[The2ndAmendment]

Only chickenshit NaziCons want gestapo cops.

Answer the question: Why do you fear militarized police?

Ask the residents of Ferguson, Missouri.

I'm asking you: Why do you fear militarized police?

 

[martybegan]

Only chickenshit NaziCons want gestapo cops.

Who do you think provides the force behind all the bullshit you try to impress upon people?

The EPA, department of labor, and all those State human rights commissions may compel all those freedom hating orders you progressives love, but how do you think you enforce them on people?

You love the big stick of government, and yet you are too naive to recognize what that stick looks like.

 

[OKTexas]

To Terrify and Occupy

How the Excessive Militarization of the Police Is Turning Cops Into Counterinsurgents

Jason Westcott was afraid.

One night last fall, he discovered via Facebook that a friend of a friend was planning with some co-conspirators to break in to his home. They were intent on stealing Wescott's handgun and a couple of TV sets. According to the Facebook message, the suspect was planning on "burning" Westcott, who promptly called the Tampa Bay police and reported the plot.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, the investigating officers responding to Westcott's call had a simple message for him: "If anyone breaks into this house, grab your gun and shoot to kill."

Around 7:30 p.m. on May 27, the intruders arrived. Westcott followed the officers' advice, grabbed his gun to defend his home, and died pointing it at the intruders. They used a semiautomatic shotgun and handgun to shoot down the 29-year-old motorcycle mechanic. He was hit three times, once in the arm and twice in his side, and pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

The intruders, however, weren't small-time crooks looking to make a small score. Rather they were members of the Tampa Bay Police Department's SWAT team, which was executing a search warrant on suspicion that Westcott and his partner were marijuana dealers. They had been tipped off by a confidential informant, whom they drove to Westcott's home four times between February and May to purchase small amounts of marijuana, at $20-$60 a pop. The informer notified police that he saw two handguns in the home, which was why the Tampa Bay police deployed a SWAT team to execute the search warrant.

In the end, the same police department that told Westcott to protect his home with defensive force killed him when he did. After searching his small rental, the cops indeed found weed, two dollars' worth, and one legal handgun -- the one he was clutching when the bullets ripped into him.

Welcome to a new era of American policing, where cops increasingly see themselves as soldiers occupying enemy territory, often with the help of Uncle Sam's armory, and where even nonviolent crimes are met with overwhelming force and brutality.

Much More: To Terrify and Occupy*|*Matthew Harwood

It's really getting ugly.

I've been raising hell with my State and Fed reps on this subject for years. There is no reason officers can't secure a perimeter and simply knock on the door. No knock swat tactics have injured and killed allot of innocent people and pets. It needs to be stopped.

 

[hipeter924]

They will probably be needed to maintain order, if government leads us into another Great Depression, and thanks to the repeal of anything that could have prevented one (from the gold standard to financial regulation) we could well be headed down that path - whether you believe in Keynesian economics or economics from the likes of Milton Friedman.

 

[Lakhota]

Why do people become cops in the first place? Most of the ones I've ever known had a Wyatt Earp mentality.

 

[turtledude]

I'm trying to figure this out, help me Progressives. Why do you fear the militarization of the police?

Lots of us on the right don't like the increased militarization of civilian police departments either

 

[theDoctorisIn]

I'm trying to figure this out, help me Progressives. Why do you fear the militarization of the police?

Why do you fear the militarization of the police?

You're the one who has started a few hundred threads on it.

 

[OKTexas]

Why do people become cops in the first place? Most of the ones I've ever known had a Wyatt Earp mentality.

I know allot of good people in law enforcement, they are there to just do the job and take care of their families.

 

[The2ndAmendment]

I'm trying to figure this out, help me Progressives. Why do you fear the militarization of the police?

Why do you fear the militarization of the police?

You're the one who has started a few hundred threads on it.

This thread is asking Progressives, I am genuinely curious. Now why don't you answer?

 

[theDoctorisIn]

I'm trying to figure this out, help me Progressives. Why do you fear the militarization of the police?

Why do you fear the militarization of the police?

You're the one who has started a few hundred threads on it.

This thread is asking Progressives, I am genuinely curious. Now why don't you answer?

I'm not a "Progressive", whatever the fuck that is, and I don't fear the militarization of police.

 

[Old Rocks]

Only chickenshit NaziCons want gestapo cops.

Answer the question: Why do you fear militarized police?

For exactly the same reason I fear militarized citizens. The become the psychology of the weapons they carry. Instead of being there to serve and protect, they are there to make war on the citizens who do not instantly obey. I see the same mindset in the militias that are claiming to defend the very rights they would destroy.

 

[The2ndAmendment]

Why do you fear the militarization of the police?

You're the one who has started a few hundred threads on it.

This thread is asking Progressives, I am genuinely curious. Now why don't you answer?

I'm not a "Progressive", whatever the fuck that is, and I don't fear the militarization of police.

Are you a liberal?

 

[dblack]

Why do people become cops in the first place? Most of the ones I've ever known had a Wyatt Earp mentality.

Because they think they know what's best for people and they're eager to force it on them. Sound familiar?

 

[theDoctorisIn]

This thread is asking Progressives, I am genuinely curious. Now why don't you answer?

I'm not a "Progressive", whatever the fuck that is, and I don't fear the militarization of police.

Are you a liberal?

Yes and no.

I'm not really into ideologies, but I'd say I lean "left", or "liberal".

None of those terms really mean anything, anyway.

 

[Old Rocks]

Only chickenshit NaziCons want gestapo cops.

Who do you think provides the force behind all the bullshit you try to impress upon people?

The EPA, department of labor, and all those State human rights commissions may compel all those freedom hating orders you progressives love, but how do you think you enforce them on people?

You love the big stick of government, and yet you are too naive to recognize what that stick looks like.

Crap. It is people like you that love the weapons of war. I don't care whose hands they are in, they should not be in a civilian population. Whether police or private citizens.