Report Points To 'Dangerous Militarization' Of U.S. Law Enforcement
The study looked at 800 SWAT deployments among 20 local, state and federal police agencies in 2011-2012.
"Using these federal funds, state and local law enforcement agencies have amassed military arsenals purportedly to wage the failed War on Drugs, the battlegrounds of which have disproportionately been in communities of color. But these arsenals are by no means free of cost for communities," says Kara Dansky
Among the ACLU's findings:
— 62 percent of SWAT raids were for the purpose of conducting drug searches.
— Just 7 percent of SWAT raids were "for hostages, barricade, or active shooter scenarios."
— SWAT raids are directed disproportionately against people of color — 30 percent of the time the "race of individual people impacted" was black, 11 percent of the time Latino, 20 percent white and 30 percent unknown.
— Armored personnel vehicles that local law enforcement agencies have received through grants from the Department of Homeland Security are most commonly used for drug raids and not school shootings and terrorist situations.
— In cases in which police cited the possible presence of a weapon in the home as a reason for utilizing a SWAT team, weapons were found only 35 percent of the time.
I'm surprised this thread hasn't gotten more responses especially considering so many here seem to loathe the law enforcement community.
Your local PD or SD is about to get a surplus MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protection) vehicle or two. California alone will be getting 40 of these bad boys. I guess the police are preparing to take on IEDs, mines, and ambushes from those crazy insurgents in Pasadena.
Maybe a few of you will recall, during the search for the younger brother in the Boston Marathon bombings, the police broke several laws and trampled on rights when they searched people's homes at gun point and kicked them out to the curb. They were dressed in battle fatigues and armor plate carriers kicking in doors and playing soldiers with their humvees and armored vehicles. There was a photo floating around taken by a curious civilian wondering what's happening in his neighborhood. THIS is the photo he took. Notice the lower left...the wannabe badass in the humvee. All of this plus helicopters with infrared sensors and all it took was some average Joe noticing something odd with his pleasure boat.
I wonder what will happen when some type of crisis happens here locally.
Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 90299 Location: Formerly Known As 24
Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:06 pm Post subject:
Aeneas Hunter wrote:
That may all be true, but I'm not impressed by an ACLU report. Amnesty International would probably agree, but Fox News would see it differently.
The wonderful thing about the ACLU is that they work to protect rights no matter which side of a partisan divide or how odious their beliefs. I remember them taking flak for arguing (successfully iirc) the case of a kkk group that wanted to sponsor a highway. _________________ “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ― Elie Wiesel
Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 8288 Location: Santa Monica
Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:16 pm Post subject:
When I was in college (I was a sociology major) I took a class on the Iraq war prison scandal. One day the professor compared prisons like g-bay to prisons here in the States, and the similarities were striking. The militarization and even the abuse of prisoners' human rights were exactly the same here as they were for suspected terrorists.
Imo 9/11 set a dangerous precedent as far as giving law enforcement even more authority to violate people's civil liberties and constitutional rights with stuff like the Patriot Act. With how imbalanced our country is socially and economically, it will probably just gradually get worse. _________________ Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers
Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 8288 Location: Santa Monica
Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:21 pm Post subject:
shansen008 wrote:
Im sure its Bush's fault.....
Never mind this though...
I think it really started with Reagan. His policies were the beginning of law enforcement having seemingly unchecked powers, as well as the proliferation of the prison industrial complex. _________________ Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers
Joined: 02 May 2005 Posts: 90299 Location: Formerly Known As 24
Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:38 pm Post subject:
It is all of our fault. We've been buying into the drug war and the lie about crime (it has been going down) and electing people based on being tough on crime, and they in turn keep upping the ante. _________________ “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ― Elie Wiesel
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