Don't Call the Police "Militarized." The Military Is Better Than This.

[LiberalArkie]

http://gawker.com/dont-call-the-police-militarized-the-military-is-bet-1621523647

As last night's institutional violence unfolded in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, an old trope came back to life: America's police have been militarized. Like most tropes, it holds a grain of truth, but it's off-base in one critical respect: The U.S. armed forces exercise more discipline and compassion than these cops.



snip

But U.S. military development of nonlethal weaponry and crowd-control tactics has happened haltingly over the last half-century, and new doctrine has come with it. Here are several salient passages that literally come from the first page of the Army's field manual on civil disturbances:

During unified action, U.S. forces should never violate basic civil or human rights. Most protesters are law-abiding citizens who intend to keep their protests nonviolent, but some protest planners insist that the event involve violence. Often in the media, protesters can gain sympathy for their cause by prompting authorities to take physical action against them...

Inciting a crowd to violence or a greater intensity of violence by using severe enforcement tactics must be avoided...



snip

http://gawker.com/dont-call-the-police-militarized-the-military-is-bet-1621523647

[Bjorn Against]

1. The military is every bit as bad

Look at Iraq, look at Vietnam, look at pretty much any conflict in the last half century and you will find serious abuses of power and human rights violations by our military. Both the police and the military are in serious need of reform.

[Luminous Animal]

3. Indeed.

[Boom Sound 416]

4. Look at anything made entirely of people

And you'll find something I suppose.

[Bjorn Against]

5. Iraq and Vietnam were a bit worse than just "something"

[Boom Sound 416]

6. I know one thing

I'm never going apple picking with anyone from DU

out.

[Bjorn Against]

8. Apple picking? Seriously? Calling out wars that cost millions of lives is apple picking?

[Boom Sound 416]

9. Yeah. That's what I mean

Later.

[Glassunion]

14. Reminds me of George Carlin.

"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups"

[Boom Sound 416]

16. Pretty much where I got the concept

[Glassunion]

17. He was fantastic at so eloquently framing concepts.

[Boom Sound 416]

18. He's one of my heroes

A genius speaker and 'observationist'

[Glassunion]

19. Indeed.

[Nye Bevan]

2. Really?

[Rex]

7. It is the actual term for when a civilian work force turns into a military work force.

Cops are CIVILIANS, they are supposed to be US walking the street making sure we are not beating up our neighbors. They don't have military training, they are not soldiers or marines. I have military training, I would not pretend to have law enforcement training or expect to understand the tactics used by peace officers.

Remember then we called them peace officers? Yeah not for a long time now.

They don't have military training. This is why crap like this is so frustrating!

[KG]

10. um, no

[tanyev]

11. Josh Marshall had a good post on this at Talking Points Memo.

A substantial amount of what we're seeing might be better termed the "Hollywoodization" rather than the "militarization" of police work.

As a number of Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans have been noting over recent days, they generally managed crowd control situations in these quasi-war-zones with less body armor, less visible firepower and more restrictive rules of engagement than the Ferguson PD appears to be using against overwhelmingly peaceful and almost exclusively unarmed civilians in Ferguson.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/militarization

[rustydog]

13. You can try to argue semantics, but:

when you use military equipment, military armament and military tactics as a police agency, you are MILITARIZED.
End of discussion.

[salin]

15. in equipment - but I doubt with nearly the amount of training

including restraint.

Result: fiasco.

[Boom Sound 416]

20. You said it

Training and restraint.