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.
Just keep discrediting yourself with this garbage!!! Looting, rioting, assaulting people and the police is not our right to be exercised. But your taking a page out of main stream medias playbook warping the truth to further your agenda.
So whats the problem? The protective gear too intimidating? Wow!!! Honestly tell me what it is that they have that you wouldn’t want facing a mob of people with the intent to do harm to you?
on the contrary id be damn glad to get a response like that
The cops in this country are out of control. When they aren’t using excessive force on a situation that didn’t require it they’re showing up late to the scene. Treating victims with suspicion like there criminals and extorting hard working Americans of their money. Instead of creating actual solutions to problems they insist on locking people up and intimidating those who disagree with them. This is america and gustapo tactics and jack booted pigs have no place in law enforcement.
Those Officers would have never have been NEEDED if the stupid people hadn’t began looting and burning stores in their “peaceful protest”. As bad as Radical Muslims, PEACEFUL MY ASS!! Just like New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. Why was it only black neighborhoods in New Orleans resorted to violence, rape, pillaging, and looting? Other areas were hit just as hard but they didn’t break down into lawless chaos. The same thing happened in Missouri. Was it wrong to kill an unarmed man? Yes, but do we truly know the whole story? As a former Police Officer myself, we were trained that if a perp tried to take your weapon, shoot to kill because he would have…….
MATT people like you are out of control. The police have no idea what they are walking into any more. They have to come prepares for anything. That goes for the average person also. I carry no matter where I go. Not afraid but not walking into a situation that I don’t have a chance to walk away from.
matt packard i agree. they rioting and then cry about way they have to live and they are ones who destryed there own stuff. no need riot use the law
Those weren’t protestors, they were LOOTERS who should have been SHOT!
For all me know TPBT paid these guys to loot. Not everything we see or read is clearcut anymore…except for the fact that police are NOT there to serve or protect the people.
Street thugs are a danger to everone, the entitlement programs in the ghettos breads this type of behaviors. Our jails are over flowing with street trash, this calls for harsher tactics, if left unchecked we would have looting and burning from all the ghetto rats, there are plenty of them……