The Militarization of American Law Enforcement

[Wraith]

Hail,

Found this article recently. Thought it was quite interesting, especially in light of recent uses of the National Guard.
I found particularly interesting the BATF's fabricated claims of a meth lab (although it made me wonder why more action wasn't taken against the agency later) and the Texas/Alabama National Guard usages. Most of the military training of federal (supposed) law enforcement was stuff I knew, but not the no-charge military support for WoD items.

Looks like the War on Drugs isn't their only excuse any more. If something like the Davidians were happening now, anyone think the BATF would have even bothered to pretend about the meth lab?

Wraith
"If the government doesn't trust us with our guns, why should we trust them with theirs?"

[CB2034]

Where I live there is a town called Kennesaw. In Kennesaw, it is law that everyone who lives there must have a handgun. There is less crime per capita then any other city in Georgia. Maybe we should just arm everybody.


but then again, when I was younger (lets say 18 or so for instance) I might have shot one of my siblings just cause they wanted that last piece of cheese in the fridge' and I saw it first


so maybe thats not such a good idea

[chequita guevara]

Interesting read. The use of the military in law enforcement is indeed a frightening and dangerous trend.

The other side of the militarization of law enforcement, not covered here, however, is the increasing use of paramilitary police forces, such as LA's SWAT unit. The primary function of SWAT, when it was created, was to be able to deal with The Black Panters, who advocated armed self-defense. Normal cops could no longer simply barge, warrentless, in BPP eadquarters and arrest people on bogus charges and confiscate whatever they felt like. They might get shot. So an armored and heavily armed police unit was created to counter this threat from democracy. Now days, nearly every police department has a SWAT type unit, which are mostly used in the "War on Drugs".

[Ted Striker]

.

[ranskaldan]

Kennesaw eh???

[chequita guevara]

So Ted, do you have knowledge to the countrary? Tell us about your great experetise in American law enforcement history.

[DinoDoc]

Good article though, Wraith.

I'll have to look at the article when I have more time to devote to it.

che: The primary function of the SWAT team when it was first created was to deal with the civil unrest that was rampant at the time and to deal with the threats of domestic terrorism. Though, I can see how you could get that last part confused with focusing on the Black Panthers.

[chequita guevara]

First use of the SWAT was an assault on BPP headquarters.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
First use of the SWAT was an assault on BPP headquarters.

Would you have liked them to pick another domestic terrorist group as a first target?

[C0ckney]

Clamping down on the black panthers sounds like a good reason to create paramilitary police to me

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by DinoDoc


Would you have liked them to pick another domestic terrorist group as a first target?

The use of the word another here is incorrect, since the BPP was not a terrorist group. They advocate armed self-defence, i.e., when the racists come shooting, shoot back, as opposed to King's method of non-violence. The BPP neither undertook nor authorized any attacks of any kind (although three Black Panthers did seize some prisoners and a judge and held them within a van, all inside were killed by the police, including the judge). They don't meat the litmus test of terrorist.

Perhaps the SWAT could have been used against the crypto-fascist SAO (Secret Army Organization), but since that group was organized by the FBI, fat lot of chance of that happening. SWAT was never used against Robert Kanegna's US, even thought that organization launched armed attacks against the BPP while it was speaking at UCLA. But then US was getting money from the government.

The domestic left didn't spawn any terrorist groups until 1969 (and then all they did was smash a bunch of car windows in Chicago). It wasn't until the 1970s that they turned to bombs and bank/armored car robberies. That was after SWAT was already in existence.

COckney? Do you know anything about the Black Panthers?

[Ted Striker]

As an aside, here's a REALLY cool article on LAPD Swat.

Next stop: the Nickerson Gardens projects, one of the most crime-ridden and lawless public-housing projects in America. The LAPD's elite SWAT platoon is about to execute a search warrant on the notorious Bounty Hunters, a drug gang known for its penchant for violence and fondness for AK-47 assault rifles. "They are ruthless and heartless," says an officer assigned to the LAPD Citizen Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) unit, which has asked for SWAT's help in serving a search warrant. "They'll open up on anyone at the drop of a hat."

A small group of U.S. Navy SEALs observing the tactical choreography with Popular Mechanics is eager to see how the SWAT team applies its building-entry skills. The Navy observers are visibly impressed. "These guys are damn good," says one SEAL. "They were inside and in control in the blink of an eye."

http://popularmechanics.com/science/law_enforcement/1997/5/lapd_swat/index2.phtml

[Ted Striker]

Here is an ultra conservative article from the other end of the spectrum for you

THIS WILL OPEN YOUR EYES
By Paul Harvey –

Conveniently Forgotten Facts:
Back in 1969 a group of Black Panthers decided that a fellow black panther named Alex Rackley needed to die.

Rackley was suspected of disloyalty. Rackley was first tied to a chair. Once safely immobilized, his friends tortured him for hours by, among other things, pouring boiling water on him. When they got tired of torturing Rackley, Black Panther member, Warren Kimbro took Rackley outside and put a bullet in his head. Rackley's body was later found floating in a river about 2 miles north of New Haven, Conn.

Perhaps at this point you're curious as to what happened to these Black Panthers. In 1977, that's only eight years later, only one of the killers was still in jail. The shooter, Warren Kimbro, managed to get a scholarship to Harvard, and became good friends with none other than Al Gore. He later became an assistant dean at an Eastern Connecticut State College. Isn't that something?

As a '60s radical you can pump a bullet into someone's head, and a few years later, in the same state, you can become an assistant college dean! Only in America!

Erica Huggins was the lady who served the Panthers by boiling the water for Mr. Rackley's torture. Some years later Ms. Huggins was elected to a California School Board.

How in the world do you think these killers got off so easy? Maybe it was in some part due to the efforts of two people who came to the defense of the Panthers.

These two people actually went so far as to shut down Yale University with demonstrations in defense of the accused Black Panthers during their trial.

One of these people was none other than Bill Lan Lee. Mr. Lee, or Mr. LAN Lee, as the case may be, isn't a college dean. He isn't a member of a California School Board. He is now head of the US Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, appointed by none other than Bill Clinton.

O.K., so who was the other Panther defender? Is this other notable Panther defender now a school board member? Is this other Panther apologist now an assistant college dean?

No, neither!

The other Panther defender was, like Lee, a radical law student at Yale University at the time. She is now known as The "smartest woman in the world."

She is none other than the Democratic senator from the State of New York--our former First Lady, the "incredible" Hillary Rodham Clinton.

And now, as Paul Harvey says, you know "the rest of the story."

[DinoDoc]

Paul Harvey is hardly what most people would consider to be ultra-conservative.

Edit: I forgot to say thanks for proving my point about the Black Panthers, Ted.

[Ted Striker]

.