Missouri Guv: Police 'Militarization' Made Ferguson Less Safe

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM

By CATHERINE THOMPSON Published AUGUST 15, 2014, 8:00 AM EDT

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) said Friday that the "militarization" of local law enforcement created a less safe environment for protesters in Ferguson, where the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by police had outraged the community over the past week.

"We've seen here a situation in which that militarization caused exactly the opposite reaction, in my view, as to what it normally should," Nixon said in an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "Instead of bringing safety, it brought less safety in this situation because people felt diminished and felt controlled in their own community. I think this is a very clear example of how the proper force strength is important, and I do think we've seen a significant trend towards militarization which, if not used correctly with these forces, can have troublesome reactions."

As TPM has pointed out, both the Ferguson and the St. Louis county police departments have received equipment from the U.S. military. Nixon acknowledged that law enforcement must be equipped to meet potential challenges from individuals with high-powered weapons, but said that need shouldn't supersede police forces' responsibility to their communities.

"Having m-wraps rolling up and down the middle of streets in the middle of protests is not going to calm people," he said. "It's not going to help get to the healing place where folks' voices can be heard and safety managed."

-snip-

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jay-nixon-police-militarization-caused-problems-ferguson

[another_liberal]

1. It comes from overfunding the Pentagon . . .

They then have the extra cash to give million dollar "Homeland Security grants" to small town police departments.

Our community got a bomb disposal robot, just like the ones the Army used in Iraq, from one of those grants. It was only weeks before suspicious, bomb-like packages started turning up around town. The cops would evacuate the area, deploy lots of SWAT officers and then bring in their new toy and have it check out the suspected device.

It was finally revealed that the police department was planting the fake bombs themselves. They even contained fake sticks of dynamite, very frightening! Public pressure forced the police chief to stop the practice, and soon he resigned.

[PatrickforO]

2. another liberal has a very good point.

What on earth does a small town need with armored bomb-proof cars with machine guns mounted at the hatch?

There is more, though, that we must consider. The headline says that militarization made the residents LESS safe, not more. We move into some other nation and militarize their neighborhoods and towns and so make them less safe. We've done it in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq. We've done it in Vietnam, several South American countries. How are the lives of those people, we must wonder, any less important or sacred than the lives of our own people?

[jwirr]

6. I thought about that when I was watching the pictures of the attack in Ferguson. If we are afraid

when these heavily armed masked "saviors" with machines with gunners on top what do people in other countries feel like. I am hoping that my town has enough sense to realize we do not need this "free" stuff. Fix the roads and create jobs.

[Moostache]

3. There's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more to this than a simple "less safe" diagnosis.

We fund the death industry and refuse to have universal, single payer health care...
We tax the rich at historically low rates while they amass historically disproportionate fortunes...
We have African-American, Hispanic-American, and Native-Americans all marginalized, stigmatized, blamed and shunned, yet European-Americans cannot be bothered to address their own culpability in all of this...

The over-funded Pentagon and US Military death machine is all America has left that is world-class....our government is not, our health care is not, our education is not, our quality of life is not, our society and social progress are not...

I was profoundly disturbed by the images of snipers and rifle squads aiming weapons at unarmed civilians.
THAT was a precursor to far worse things to come in America if we do not immediately wake the fuck up and change the course of this bloated and dystopian society.

[mopinko]

4. mraps not gonna help the local streets, either.

they gonna be able to put a lot of people to work fixing up after this mess.

[rhett o rick]

5. Is he just now figuring this out? How militarized are the state police? nm

[logosoco]

7. Reminds me of that saying

when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
(or something like that).

What really stands out to me...in the late spring-ish, weren't we seeing pictures of folks going in stores and restaurants with large rifles on their backs? But no one did anything about that.
This confuses me. SO, if you go about with arms, you are left alone, but when you protest the killing of an unarmed man, they bring out the riot gear (which used to have a whole nother meaning).

The more this happens, the more I am glad that I just mainly stay at home.