The Militarization of Our Police

[Popol Vuh]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INdcaeeb3ws

[old mark]

1. I wrote a college paper about one aspect of this...

Back around the turn of the century (19th to 20th) the police in cities were mainly armed with .32 caliber 5 or 6 shot revolvers. The Hearst papers and others in the South and East began a racist campaign of stories of violence by drug-crazed minorities (Blacks in the South and East, Chinese in the West) The newly developed, larger swing-out cylinder revolvers - made mostly by Smith & Wesson and Colt - were introduced in the 1890's with .38 caliber cartridges, said by these papers to be more effective against these drug crazed etc.
They were adopted by many police departments, and after a few years were the standard police handgun in the US. From the 1920's through most of the 1970's the .38 Special 6 shot revolver was THE handgun of more than 80% of US police departments.
The 1970's saw the beginning of the use of automatic (semi auto) pistols by some US police agencies, along with the beginning of surplus military rifles and "SWAT" tactics. Again, drugs and left-wing radicals were the rationale - the idea that the bad guys were more heavily armed than the cops still worked, and works to this day, as many police agencies seek to acquire yet more surplus military equipment and small arms despite the deop inviolent crime over the last 7 years (per the FBI).

mark

[Jack_DeLeon]

2. lots of police forces are now switching to black uniforms now too..

been noticing that alot more lately.

[Greyhound]

3. Can't watch the video now, but don't forget about Darryl Gates odious contribution.

He is the fucktard that turned LAPD into the military organization that it is today.

[L0oniX]

4. Death by Taser: Police Accused of Cover-Up in Death of African American

Man Shocked Nine Times While in Handcuffs.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3670313&mesg_id=3670313

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/24/police_accused_of_coverup_in_taser

<snip>city police chief initially claimed that Pikes was high on crack cocaine and PCP at the time of his death. But the coroner recently ruled Pikes’ death to be a homicide

[flashl]

5. And, federalizing police forces gives you this ...

Immigrant, Pregnant, Is Jailed Under (Federal->State ICE) Pact

Mrs. Villegas’s arrest has focused new attention on a cooperation agreement signed in April 2007 between federal immigration authorities and Davidson County, which shares a consolidated government with Nashville, that gave immigration enforcement powers to county officers. It is one of 57 agreements, known formally as 287G, that the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has signed in the last two years with county and local police departments across the country under a rapidly expanding program.

[TexasObserver]

6. We've gone from "To Protect & Serve" to "What Are You Lookin' At?!"

--- commentary on the topic by Bill Maher

It was Bush and his henchmen who militarized the police.