The militarization of America's Police Forces

[MI .45]

Joint Military/Civilian Police Training, out of the public eye? A question I would have; does your small town actually have a SWAT team? Were the Nat'l Guard troops stating "local" on a broader basis and what were they being told (need to know and all of that)? This of course could be innocent but we are seeing more and more civilian police/US military exercises taking place in many different venues.

I continue to maintain - if terrorism is so prevalent, why have seen so little? The Boston Marathon bombing was essentially domestic and to date nothing has been put forth indicating it was part of a greater foreign plot. Is the TSA catching all of these bad guys and keeping it to themselves? Is the Border Patrol intercepting all of the plotters and not leaking the details? 12 years from 9/11... terrorism essentially nil, but we have to continuously ramp up military/police procedures and training, invade the peoples rights, and spy on everyone?
How can any of this joint training prevent terrorism? It can't. These excercises of course would be most useful for crowd control, putting down riots, enforcing curfews, and squashing virtually any other form of civil disturbance.

Link Removed

Please note the sources, both media and personnel (e.g. major newspapers, mayors, military command officers) - no tin foil here. Question: if various levels of government is so concerned for the safety of the public, why do they allow and hold dangerous military style exercises at night, with little to no warning, and any number of things can go very wrong? Notice in the Arkansas Times article how, "someone dropped the ball on notifying Little Rock residents"; one of the convenient default statements issued when FedGov gets caught performing questionable actions. The LA Weekly questioned these military/Homeland Security excercises on a safety and legal basis, but you can see where that went - nowhere. So much for all politics being local - FedGov reigns supreme.

 

[BluesStringer]

I read this story with great interest, and agree with most but not all of it. I do have a story to relate that maybe some you here can explain it to me, because it doesn`t make sense to me.

I live in a small farm town in Idaho, Last summer a friend of mine was in the local hamburger joint and he told me that the place was filled with the local national guard troops, he didn`t think anything of it at the time. A few days later he was back in the same hamburger joint and the same group of national guard guys were there again, so he asked them what they were up to, and they told him that they were training with the local swat team to assist them if needed.

So I don`t get it ?. I live in a small farm town with farm fields as far as you can see in any direction, and the national guard unit is stationed in my town. I work in another small farm town 18 miles from my small farm town, and the nearest larger city is 80 miles away, and Boise Idaho is about 250 miles away. There is nothing around here and there is no crime here, so why would the national guard need to be training with the swat team to assist them ?.

It really has me scratching my head and wondering.

Did neither you or neighbors/business owners you know get pictures and/or video?

The New Normal dictates that every encounter with government (not just law enforcement) should be recorded as completely as possible, and that includes strange happenings by government such as you describe above. Video w/audio = best, audio only = next best, video only = OK, still photography = bare minimum, and simply relaying information through speech or forum-speak = an almost meaningless anecdote. That last one isn't intended to criticize you personally, just evaluating the usefulness of anecdotes to build any kind of collection of information on what the government is actually doing. It's interesting, but not very useful is all I'm saying. If you didn't capture any images or video of the event(s), you might want to check around and see if anyone else that you know did. Try to get them to make whatever they have public, like YouTube or PhotoBucket so there's some hard evidence to scrutinize for people just like you who are scratching their heads and wondering what the heck is going on in this country that hardly anyone recognizes anymore.

It just seems way past the time when we could shrug our shoulders at such events and say, "That was strange," and then forget about it. What you describe is evidence of government involving itself in something beyond what the Constitution authorizes it to do. As many people as you and your neighbors can make aware of it should be made aware - and hopefully - many will begin to resist it as well.

Blues

 

[Rhino]

I read this story with great interest, and agree with most but not all of it. I do have a story to relate that maybe some you here can explain it to me, because it doesn`t make sense to me.

I live in a small farm town in Idaho, Last summer a friend of mine was in the local hamburger joint and he told me that the place was filled with the local national guard troops, he didn`t think anything of it at the time. A few days later he was back in the same hamburger joint and the same group of national guard guys were there again, so he asked them what they were up to, and they told him that they were training with the local swat team to assist them if needed.

So I don`t get it ?. I live in a small farm town with farm fields as far as you can see in any direction, and the national guard unit is stationed in my town. I work in another small farm town 18 miles from my small farm town, and the nearest larger city is 80 miles away, and Boise Idaho is about 250 miles away. There is nothing around here and there is no crime here, so why would the national guard need to be training with the swat team to assist them ?.

It really has me scratching my head and wondering.

Ever since 9/11 there has been a push to plan and practice the integration of military and civilian law enforcement response to terrorist attacks. The same kind of things have been happening in disaster response since Hurricane Katrina. The integration for terrorist response is far more prevalent for National Guard forces because they, unlike the regular military, have an obligation for law enforcement if they're activated by their respective governors. It's quite common for the practice exercises to take place in rural areas for several reasons, mainly because the places designated to practice large activities involving live fire and/or explosions are almost always located in such rural areas.

 

[Cakeyes]

New Mexico State Police

Did anyone see the New Mexico State cops that shot at the mini van full of kids! It was a strange deal the driver (the mother) was a nut, didn't follow the officers instructions (he must of been having a bad day) called for back up and the police lost their minds. A mom and five kids, oldest 14 almost lost their life's. Seems to me the police don't understand that their sidearms are a last resort. Anyway it's common place now for the police to go to RED instead of taking the less violent route. Their losing the hearts and minds of the people. One other thing, every cop that showed up went crazy, not one of them tried to bring some common sense to the problem.

 

[Johnny Dollar]

The New Normal dictates that every encounter with government (not just law enforcement) should be recorded as completely as possible, and that includes strange happenings by government such as you describe above.

Do you really do all this?

 

[BluesStringer]

Do you really do all this?

In the exceedingly rare encounters I have with government, absolutely, I do. I haven't always. Only since the advent of the smart phone that has everything in it to document encounters has it been a rule of thumb for me. I think it's ridiculous in this day and age not to protect yourself with objective evidence of your governmental contacts. They're recording most, if not all, of their contacts with citizens, and making it as difficult as they can to get a hold of those recordings should a citizen need it to defend themselves in court, or prove an allegation against a government employee of abuse or corruption. Guns are decidedly not the only tool people should use to defend themselves with. I use my cameras and audio recording devices almost every day, probably 99% of the time in the traditional way for fun, creative expression and communication with friends and family, but getting in the habit of using them often makes it second-nature to push the "Record" button on any number of devices I might have with me whenever the need might arise.

The only time I left my gear out of reach before a couple or three months ago was when I was walking my dog in my own backyard. I don't make that mistake anymore.

Blues

 

[Johnny Dollar]

In the exceedingly rare encounters I have with government, absolutely, I do. I haven't always. Only since the advent of the smart phone that has everything in it to document encounters has it been a rule of thumb for me. I think it's ridiculous in this day and age not to protect yourself with objective evidence of your governmental contacts. They're recording most, if not all, of their contacts with citizens, and making it as difficult as they can to get a hold of those recordings should a citizen need it to defend themselves in court, or prove an allegation against a government employee of abuse or corruption. Guns are decidedly not the only tool people should use to defend themselves with. I use my cameras and audio recording devices almost every day, probably 99% of the time in the traditional way for fun, creative expression and communication with friends and family, but getting in the habit of using them often makes it second-nature to push the "Record" button on any number of devices I might have with me whenever the need might arise.

The only time I left my gear out of reach before a couple or three months ago was when I was walking my dog in my own backyard. I don't make that mistake anymore.

Blues

Dude you are paranoid

 

[wolf_fire]

Dude you are paranoid

Cops record what happens, why wouldn't you? And you call him paranoid for doing exactly what cops do with dash cams.

 

[BluesStringer]

Dude you are paranoid

Imagine that, someone who thinks the 2nd Amendment is obsolete and supports the government converting my God-given rights into privileges, thinks I'm paranoid. The irony is delicious.

I'm sure Benedict Arnold thought Paul Revere-types were paranoid too.

Thanks for posting. I will hurry to waste no time reading it the next time.

Blues

 

[Ghost Rider]

Joint Military/Civilian Police Training, out of the public eye? A question I would have; does your small town actually have a SWAT team? Were the Nat'l Guard troops stating "local" on a broader basis and what were they being told (need to know and all of that)? This of course could be innocent but we are seeing more and more civilian police/US military exercises taking place in many different venues.

I continue to maintain - if terrorism is so prevalent, why have seen so little? The Boston Marathon bombing was essentially domestic and to date nothing has been put forth indicating it was part of a greater foreign plot. Is the TSA catching all of these bad guys and keeping it to themselves? Is the Border Patrol intercepting all of the plotters and not leaking the details? 12 years from 9/11... terrorism essentially nil, but we have to continuously ramp up military/police procedures and training, invade the peoples rights, and spy on everyone?
How can any of this joint training prevent terrorism? It can't. These excercises of course would be most useful for crowd control, putting down riots, enforcing curfews, and squashing virtually any other form of civil disturbance.

Link Removed

Please note the sources, both media and personnel (e.g. major newspapers, mayors, military command officers) - no tin foil here. Question: if various levels of government is so concerned for the safety of the public, why do they allow and hold dangerous military style exercises at night, with little to no warning, and any number of things can go very wrong? Notice in the Arkansas Times article how, "someone dropped the ball on notifying Little Rock residents"; one of the convenient default statements issued when FedGov gets caught performing questionable actions. The LA Weekly questioned these military/Homeland Security excercises on a safety and legal basis, but you can see where that went - nowhere. So much for all politics being local - FedGov reigns supreme.

My small town does not have a swat team. The nearest city that I think has a swat team is eighty miles away from were I live. This type of thing makes me nervous in a way because you just have no idea what there up to. I could understand it if I lived in a large city with a large population of people, but not here.

To me its like the police and national guard or military in general are training together because something is going to happen ? in the near future. I don`t know one way or the other, but its something to think about.