Death raises concern at police tactics

[TheBaldyMan]

BBC News reports on the increasing militarisation of police.

full report here on the killing of Dr. Salvatore Culosi Jr. earlier this year.

The recent killing of an unarmed Virginia doctor has raised concerns about what some say is an explosion in the use of military-style police Swat teams in the United States.

Armed with assault rifles, stun grenades - even armoured personnel carriers - units once used only in highly volatile situations are increasingly being deployed on more routine police missions

[LisaLynne]

1. There are certainly issues to think about ...

A bunch of people, fully armed and fully armored (hey, better off than the troops in Iraq), probably have a certain mind-set, just being in that state of readiness. I can see that it would get the adreniline pumping and that could cause mistakes to be made. On the other hand, the police do need to be protected because of the situations they encounter.

[Kagemusha]

2. Yeah, it'd be so nice if high levels of force were used only when needed.

But that's not what finances bigger local police force budgets.

At any rate this issue has been building for a full decade (i.e. a full half decade plus change before 9/11) so a lot of this stuff is really entrenched in training and procurement...

[slaveplanet]

3. Contrary to the widely dispersed misnomer

SWAT- Special weapon and tactics

SWAT- is the militarization of police forces.

SWAT= Special Weapons Assault Team

The melding of military into police in order to bypass posse comitatus.

They were the first to wear Black Masks..now many police units wear black masks.

The first SWAT unit was created in the city of Delano, California in the 1960s in response to the uprisings of farmworkers (who would later be united under the pacifist leader of the UFW, César Chávez). This unit was a department-wide team which received specialized crowd control, sniper/counter-sniper, and counter-force training.

[Syncronaut Seven]

4. The Iraqi "insurgency" learned to adapt.

And from 1,000 yards too! Hope the local SWAT teams aren't wearing the same defective body armor our soldiers in the field are.

Perhaps we can send any surplus swat armor and personnel to the war zone where such tactics are more appropriate. I mean, they're already trained and all.

Just sayin, You swat guys DO love America, right? Cause your killing a whole lot of Americans, and I'm very confused about this. You see, I was raised to believe the police existed to protect and serve, not kill with impunity and terrorize. You can see how the confusion results.

Perhaps your not friends to Americans, perhaps your the enemy? Hard to tell by your actions.