Militarization of U.S. Civilian Police

[thomas pendrake]

Since "9-11" there has been a program to sell or give military weaponry to civilian police in the U.S., mostly to create SWAT units in virtually every community. Recently there has been a growing feeling that this has gone too far. I have just had a personal experience of seeing a police response to a minor situation being made into a far overblown response. In fact, what has happened is that we have the appearance of Storm Troopers in America. In the large cities where SWAT units are, in fact, often called for, these units seem to know their place. In smaller towns, they seem to create aggressive units looking for an excuse to show off their new toys. My father and several uncles fought in WWII to see that we would not have SS in America. I hope to see a response not only from people in my country, but people in other countries, even those who have their own SS or equivalent.
I would like to make it clear that I am not anti-police, but fear for the safety of all the good "cops" a a result of the few bad ones.