The techno-militarization of American Law Enforcement

[Original Poster]

The Techno-Militarization Of America | TechCrunch Warning: do not read the article linked above unless your ready for some shivers to run down your spine. Where do you think the following vehicle is deployed? If you guessed Afghanistan, you're damn wrong. It's right here in places like Albany county, NY. and if you're thinking that's an isolated example of police getting some fun toys, keep in mind 731 of these vehicles have been requested by local police forces all over the country. The article also lists predator drones, M-16s and grenade launchers as military surplus being trickled down to hands of local police forces. The Military Industrial Complex has managed to lobby us into four foreign wars in the last decade, meaning they've had their hands full supplying our armed forces with the proper equipment (and charging the tax payer a hundred bucks a screw in the process). But what's even scarier than a runaway military industry meeting demands it lobbied for in the first place? They're over-producing this technology giving the military a big fat surplus. So the military turns around and hands it off to our nation's local police forces. Are you frightened yet? The militarization of the police goes beyond their equipment. SWAT raids have increased from 3,000 to 50,000 over the last two decades (the article does not explain if this figure is per year). These swat raids are being used to bust illegal gamblers, expired visas and underage drinking. Underage drinking... meaning they're sending swat teams to house parties. Why? Well why the fuck not, they've already got all the equipment just sitting there, they might as well use it. Eisenhower warned of a military industrial complex, and we see the result as our nation is nearly constantly involved in unprovoked military action. But I wonder if he also foresaw the police riding its coattails.

[Descensus]

Read Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces by Radley Balko. I heard him give a speech in November at a Students for Liberty conference on this topic.

[episode24]

this technology the equipment why not "weapons" and only that word?

[Original Poster]

A lot of their technology is intel gathering. The article goes on to explain some of their new methods of invading privacy too.

[episode24]

people use technology for intel gathering and invading privacy. i don't understand why these actions are labeled technologies. it's as if the language of l. ron hubbard is seeping into mainstream media.

[Original Poster]

Broad terminology is used to speak more accurately toward a broad range of equipment and technology.

[episode24]

and as a result the people and their intentions are forgotten. perfect.

[Original Poster]

No, dude, it's not double-speak when you call out, by name, assault rifles and RPGs. Scientologists mask their intentions in vague innuendo to cover their actions, the news report says exactly what's going on and uses broad terminology so no one gets misinformed into believing weapons are the only equipment being kicked down by the military.

[episode24]

i thought that was the point of the article. all of the exploiting was going on because people excused it as "homeland security" measures. that sounds like masked intentions and misinformation to me.

[Original Poster]

Yeah, by the police reports.

[episode24]

...

[DeletePlease]

This seemed relevant.

[Universal Mind]

obama weapns of war.jpg obama weapons.jpg It is as if the chess pieces are being put in place for a totalitarian police state. This militarization of police forces is happening while way too many people in high places in the federal government are extremely boned up about major gun control (gradually disarming the citizenry while making police forces much more powerful), the NSA is spying on a huge chunk of the country, the federal government recently jumped over the Constitution and gave itself the power to indefinitely detain and kill U.S. citizens without trial, big wigs in the IRS got caught going after political organizations that oppose Obama, and the Tenth Amendment might as well not even exist any more. This is insane.

[Original Poster]

Mass. SWAT teams claim they’re private companies and don’t have to tell you anything After the ACLU sent open records requests as part of its investigative report on police militarization, SWAT teams in Massachusetts claimed they were exempt because they were private corporations.