Police departments with military weapons

[Kamarsun1]

I was reading an article about war gear being sent to police departments across the country. Do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing. I think this could be a warning sign that something major is about to go down on our own soil.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/09/us/war-gear-flows-to-police-departments.html?_r=0

 

[DeltaForce103]

The whole article reads like the premise for a dystopian movie, the sort of movie you'd consider unrealistic because no government would lack the foresight to do something like that. But, here it is. I wonder if there will be soon be an agreement between legislators and the arms industry to invest billions of dollars in arming US police officers.

Once they start the militarization of the police force, why should they stop with the leftovers from the military? Why not develop newer, more efficient tech to disperse all those unruly crowds?

 

[TatsuKaji]

If the recent happenings of the last year with how police tend to treat civilians now becoming more public knowledge (cause this has been going on for yeaaaars.), if they start getting more military equipment only bad things will come of it. The fact that police are being trained like they think they're in a war time situation when in fact they aren't has caused enough issues without them having the equipment to back up a marred mentality.

 

[KimberlyD]

Bad mojo... to place police officers in the gear and weaponry of military is to make them a sort of civil military. I believe that law enforcement should be protected, their lives are just as important as any other, but when you are making the line between state law enforcement and federal military even thinner then it already was... it spells trouble. On the other hand, having our law enforcement officers wearing military gear may be appropriate at times because in some areas it is as if they are going to war in order to serve and protect. Yes, I am of two minds of this... if you couldn't tell.

 

[fire421]

I think it's scary but also necessary. People are now starting to attack police officers for no reason. Take New York for example, when two police officers were shot in the head while on break during the day. It is only right that they use deadly weapons to protect themselves.

 

[xTinx]

I think there's no need to blow this news out of proportion because even in a third world country like mine, ordinary policemen receive military gears and weapons every now and then. Policemen need to be prepared and armed just in case the enemy attacks the country directly while the rest of the military forces are out there in the Middle East fighting someone else's war.

 

[DeltaForce103]

I think there's no need to blow this news out of proportion because even in a third world country like mine, ordinary policemen receive military gears and weapons every now and then. Policemen need to be prepared and armed just in case the enemy attacks the country directly while the rest of the military forces are out there in the Middle East fighting someone else's war.

The US army has 850,880 soldiers in reserve. This is the purpose of a reserve army, to mobilize when required. Unless your entire defence infrastructure is incompetent and completely useless, the enemy will not reach your shores without due warning, subsequent confrontation and air/naval defeat. Not only has the world had near instantaneous communication systems for the better part of a century now, but militaries around the world invest in multiple sophisticated communication systems for redundancy. A superpower like the US has advanced spy satellites with a higher resolving power than what's available to NASA.

A police force and a military are distinct and entirely different organizations with vastly different purposes. I'm surprised I have to explain this, but a police force is meant to preserve public safety and enforce laws, not for national defence or to fight wars. This has to be the weakest argument for police militarization that I've heard so far.

 

[Nur]

I think there's no need to blow this news out of proportion because even in a third world country like mine, ordinary policemen receive military gears and weapons every now and then.

I don't think you can compare the military gear received by our police to their police though. Considering... er, well, considering the state of our military's gears and weaponry. Which is very, very old and very, very bad. Generals don't get as rich as they are without some cross-cutting after all!

The military gear their police received is state-of-the-art against protesters that were 90% peaceful. The gears and weaponry have made soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan comment that these police were more juiced up than they ever were and they were front line soldiers. That's probably why there are demographics reacting unfavorably to this news. Police militarization has been a topic before and it seems to be even more possible now.

 

[missbishi]

I think this is probably happening in response to the tension that seems to be building up between the police and the general public. It is a scary prospect but there is a very real threat of unrest at the moment and I think the government just wants the police to be prepared. After all, whilst they are not front line soldiers, they are the people who attend such situations first.

 

[003]

It feels pretty threatening, because if it were not that serious then its futile. Its military weapons, made for national and international teams. How would the polices who only manage their local territories would use it? There must be really something threatening. It couldn't be futile because efforts to store and maintain them isn't so practical. There's must really be a reason that people should be alert for.

 

[kittyworker]

I'm fine with it. Its not like its going to be issued to you're average beat cop. It will be limited to the crowd control and SWAT units. A lot of which already have military grade weapons at their disposal. I agree with the others in this thread though that have mentioned this is probably in response to growing tension between rioters and police. Right now its big news anytime a police officer fires his weapon. Give it a year or so and it will be back to normal.

 

[galmal]

I think the biggest question is whether the police are getting the training to use said weapons and whether laws are being made to determine when such weapons can be used. To just hand out these weapons willy-nilly with no regard to the officers training or if the situation calls for such force is to ask for trouble. On the other hand, in the very rare cases where this type of force is necessary, the officers need to be trained and capable of using them responsibly. Unfortunately, in this day and age we are seeing a public that is more violent and out of control and there may be a time and situation when these types of weapons are necessary to protect no only the police, but the civilian population.

 

[globulon]

As long as the transfer of military gear to police is limited to trained policemen in specialized groups, I don't think it is a bad idea. There will always be the occasional situation where officers are faced with armed groups. The transfer of gear to the general force is totally another story though. At that point you begin to wonder if they are trying to protect the public, or to protect themselves from the public.

 

[weepforsweep]

I fear that they will start detaining anybody who records their actions. The Department of Home Lands Security labels pretty much anybody a terrorist.

 

[kittyworker]

Let me give you some perspective. In New Zealand, the majority of police have empty holsters. Most police cars have a rifle in their cabinet, but with regular police checks and walking the beat the most they will carry is probably a taser. It has only been a few years really since police didn't even carry tasers as well.