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While I do believe that the repression of public Occupy protests has historical underpinnings, that doesn’t mean that what has happened in the streets should cause no concern. In fact, technology has advanced beyond the billy clubs and paddy wagons of the past, to include LRAD sound cannons, pepper spray, bean-bag projectiles, stun guns, and a host of other suppressive techniques. Radley Balko takes a look at the increasing militarization of local police raids, which have their roots in drug busts:
In February of last year, video surfaced of a marijuana raid in Columbia, Mo. During the raid on Jonathan Whitworth and his family, police took down the door with a battering ram, then within seconds shot and killed one of Whitworth’s dogs and wounded the other. They didn’t find enough pot in the house to charge Whitworth with even a misdemeanor. (He was, however, charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia when police found a pipe.) The disturbing video went viral in May 2010, triggering outrage around the world [...]
In fact, very little about the raid that was isolated or unusual. For the most part, it was carried out the same way drug warrants are served some 150 times per day in the United States. The battering ram, the execution of Whitworth’s dog, the fact that police weren’t aware Whitworth’s 7-year-old child was in the home before they riddled the place with bullets, the fact that they found only a small amount of pot, likely for personal use — all are common in drug raids. The only thing unusual was that the raid was recorded by police, then released to the public after an open records request by the Columbia Daily Tribune. It was as if much of the country was seeing for the first time the violence with which the drug war is actually fought. And they didn’t like what they saw.
This disproportionate use of force has simply extended to the suppression of Occupy protests. This is how the police deals with things these days.
If anything, the Occupy protests have shined a new light on these tactics. It’s not what the protests were set up to denounce, but in a way, it is. The Occupy movement believes that the country has abandoned the rights and needs of the vast majority of people in servitude to the top 1%. Using disproportionate police force on college students and activists while allowing those who robbed the entire nation and broke the economy to go about their business is a powerful reminder of that.
Read the entire Balko article. This has been a slow but insistent move over the past couple decades. The war on drugs has now transformed into a war on everything. And as you’ll see, it has caused actual casualties, innocent victims of militarized police tactics caught in the crossfire. That mentality needs to stop.
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I’ve always said pot is dangerous; the police will kill you over it.
Thanks DDay. I wonder if there’s any way to make a case that we’ve lost the “local control,” in local police forces? I wonder if there’s a way to argue that the federalization of local law enforcement violates “Posse Comitatus.”
Look up Operation Ghostdancer in No. Cal back in the 80s.. This was the full mobilization of active duty military forces against the civilian population, the end of Posse Comitatus and the official beginning of th full militarization of the War On Drugs.
One of the reasons police need this stuff:
“North Hollywood shootout”
“Phillips and Mătăsăreanu engaged the officers, firing armor-piercing rounds into the patrol cars that had been positioned on Laurel Canyon in front of the bank.[14] The patrol officers were armed with standard Beretta 92F and Beretta 92FS 9mm pistols and Smith & Wesson Model 15 .38 caliber revolvers, Officer James Zaboravan also carried a 12-gauge Ithaca Model 37 pump-action shotgun, but the body armor worn by Phillips and Mătăsăreanu was strong enough to resist penetration.[13] Multiple officers and civilians were wounded in the seven to eight minutes from when the shooting began to when Mătăsăreanu entered the robbers’ white sedan to make a getaway; Phillips remained outside the vehicle and continued firing on officers and helicopters with the HK91, possibly providing covering fire for Mătăsăreanu and using the car for cover
Local patrol officers at the time were typically armed with 9 mm or .38 Special pistols on their person, with some having a 12-gauge shotgun available in their cars. Phillips and Mătăsăreanu carried fully automatic rifles, with ammunition capable of penetrating police body armor, and wore military grade body armor of their own. Since the police handguns could not penetrate the bank robbers’ body armor, the patrol officers’ efforts were ineffective. SWAT eventually arrived with weapons that could penetrate and several officers also appropriated AR-15 rifles from a nearby firearms dealer. The incident sparked debate on the appropriate firepower for patrol officers to have available in similar situations in the future.
Due to the large number of casualties, rounds fired, weapons used and overall length of the shootout, it is regarded as the longest and bloodiest event in US police history.[4] ”
wikipedia
I imagine most people can remember this. It was pretty sickening.
I can see using it on bad guys. What’s the excuse for using this stuff on peaceful protesters?
Yeah, I second FB..here is another article on this, with great photos..
http://www.thedaily.com/page/2011/12/05/120511-news-militarized-police-1-6/
I have a feeling that in many countries where tanks begin rolling in the streets, the taxpayers are told the tanks are only for the bad guys.
That’s what they said about nuclear bombs, too, at the same time the mad scientists were detonating hundreds of them (almost a thousand) underground right here on U.S. soil where Americans live, breathe, eat, drink, and raise children.
there is no excuse for using anything on peaceful demonstrators, I just meant that until there are gun control laws, in the USA, there are good reasons for them to have these weapons.