When residents took to the streets to protest the recent killing of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown by local police in the small town of Ferguson, Missouri, we get a clear look at today’s law enforcement – not exactly persons you would feel comfortable calling should you need to be protected or served.
Instead of showing up to help serve citizens exercising their rights to protest against an injustice, these law enforcement officers show up in full military gear, flaunting an ‘us vs them’ mentality.
This is the new USA.
“Why do these cops need MARPAT camo pants again,” I asked on Twitter this morning. One of the most interesting responses came from a follower who says he served in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division: “We rolled lighter than that in an actual warzone,” writes Paul Szoldra from Business Insider, who wrote an penned an article questioning the recent change in our law enforcement.
There can be no doubt that American citizens are the new ‘insurgents’. The state is obviously preparing for a coming event. Are you aware of this? Are you prepared?
We looked intimidating, but all of our vehicles and equipment had a clear purpose for combat against enemy forces. So why is this same gear being used on our city streets?
On Saturday, a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown, an unarmed black man. In the days that have followed, the town with a population of about 21,000 has seen massive protests in response to the shooting, as some witnesses said Brown had his hands up when he was killed.
Putting aside what started the protests for a moment, it’s worth discussing the police response to the outrage. In photos taken Monday, we are shown a heavily armed SWAT team.
They have short-barreled 5.56-mm rifles based on the military M4 carbine, with scopes that can accurately hit a target out to 500 meters. On their side they carry pistols. On their front, over their body armor, they carry at least four to six extra magazines, loaded with 30 rounds each.
AP Photo/Jeff Roberson
Police officers try to disperse a crowd Monday in Ferguson, Missouri.
Their uniform would be mistaken for a soldier’s if it weren’t for their “Police” patches. They wear green tops, and pants fashioned after the U.S. Marine Corps MARPAT camouflage pattern. And they stand in front of a massive uparmored truck called a Bearcat, similar in look to a mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle, or as the troops who rode in them call it, the MRAP.
When did this become OK? When did “protect and serve” turn into “us versus them”?
“Why do these cops need MARPAT camo pants again,” I asked on Twitter this morning. One of the most interesting responses came from a follower who says he served in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division: “We rolled lighter than that in an actual warzone.”
AP/Jeff Roberson
The police point their weapons at a car as it pulls away after tear gas was used by authorities Monday in Ferguson, Missouri.
Let’s be clear: This is not a war zone — even if the FAA banned flights under 3,000 feet. This is a city outside of St. Louis where people on both sides are angry. Protesters have looted and torched a gas station, and shots were fired at police, according to The Washington Post.
The scene is tense, but the presence of what looks like a military force doesn’t seem to be helping.
“Bring it. You fucking animals, bring it,” one police officer was caught on video telling protesters. In Ferguson and beyond, it seems that some police officers have shed the blue uniform and have put on the uniform and gear of the military, bringing the attitude along with it.
Matt Ford, the social-media editor at The Atlantic, summed it up well:
And here’s journalist Radley Balko, author of “Rise of the Warrior Cop“:
In Afghanistan, we patrolled in big, armored trucks. We wore uniforms that conveyed the message, “We are a military force, and we are in control right now.” Many Afghans saw us as occupiers.
And now we see some of our police officers in this same way. “The militarization of law enforcement is counter-productive to domestic policing and needs to stop,” tweeted Andrew Exum, a former Army infantry officer.
If there’s one thing I learned in Afghanistan, it’s this: You can’t win a person’s heart and mind when you are pointing a rifle at his or her chest.
Since when do we consider burning down businesses a protest?
This is so wrong. Is this the police state…Folks save you ammo.
They have statements from people of color btw that this pos tried to take the officers gun…what was he suppose to do let the kid have it and shoot him instead….I would show up in riot gear in this case too…to stop the looting and all out insanity that these people are doing…when is it ok or rational to burn down your neighbors and rob and loot because your mad…do you see any other races doing it?(Well lately the illegals and islamic’s seem to be doing some crazy ass’d $#%&!@* to) HELL NO YOU DONT…all they are doing is making themselves look worse and worse…Martine Luther King wouldn’t be like Al Sharpton going down there and fanning the hate even higher…he would be telling them to act like freaking rational human beings and knock the $#%&!@* off… and grow the hell up and he would tell them YOU want a new tv then GO TO WORK an EARN IT..EARN THE AMERICAN DREAM…but NO they got to go out and act like a bunch of wild azz’d apes…and tear everything up…TOTAL INSANITY is all they are showing…and proving that is OVOMIT is right about them..he knew they would be easily fooled and lead…cause of their mentality…and they just keep proving it over and over again.
Hogwash! They were throwing “molotav $#%&!@*tails”. That’s quite a far stretch from citizens exercising their rights to protest against an injustice”.
protesting is protected by the constitution…burning and looting stores owned by people who are innocent of what the Police did, and fomenting more violence isn’t.
There is two justice system in America
The white justice System
And the black justice system
Everything else falls in the middle
Those black kids in St. Louis are thugs
This white kid is mentally ill
American sentiment
People should not take to the streets and destroy property or interfere with police. That is not peaceful protest.
LOL, when I have the need to dial 911, where I live. Most times they don’t even answer…….. This is why I own multiple weapons. If you can’t count on the local police department, what else can you do ?
how many stores were looted and burned ?