We wrecked Iraq, we pulled out, we redeployed in Anaheim

[pscot]

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/making-police-into-soldiers-turns-cities-into-war-2428130.html

Another way to say that is: We exacerbate every problem we militarize. Indeed, militarization is as much a part of the problem — as much a threat to civilization — as, for instance, terrorism or drugs. And the recent, ongoing community uproar in Anaheim, Calif., over two police slayings of Latino males in one weekend — and the subsequent police reaction to that outrage — illustrates the terrifying ineffectiveness of a militarized "us vs. them" approach to conflict.

....

The whole thing is Iraq or Afghanistan, but it's domestic. Poor, ethnic neighborhoods are the equivalent of Third or Fourth World nations. If there's a gang problem, treat every young male as an insurgent. Treat the rest of the community with suspicion. Treat everyone as the enemy

....

The transformation from ‘community policing' to ‘military policing' began in 1981," Michelle Alexander wrote in The New Jim Crow, "when President Reagan persuaded Congress to pass the Military Cooperation with Law Enforcement Act, which encouraged the military to give local, state and federal police access to military bases, intelligence, research, weaponry, and other equipment for drug interdiction."

Two decades later, in the wake of 9-11, the militarization of America's police intensified, when the Bush administration pulled local departments into the war on terror. "Now, police officers routinely walk the beat armed with assault rifles and garbed in black full-battle uniforms," Arthur Rizer and Joseph Hartman wrote last November in The Atlantic.

The most serious consequence of police militarization isn't "weapon inflation," they noted, but "the subtle evolution in the mentality of the ‘men in blue' from ‘peace officer' to soldier."

[leveymg]

1. Important background info. Thnx.

[bemildred]

2. Militarization looks great as long as you see the public as the enemy.

And they do.

[PDJane]

3. This, too, has been a concern of mine for some time.

We saw it in action during the las G-20 here in Toronto. Black dressed, uniformed guys all over the damn place, harassing people.