Monday, June 27, 2011
Militarized Police.
A no knock raid.
On US soil by law enforcement officers decked out like an Infantry unit.
Amazingly, they always seem to go against people that don't have the training or the will to resist. The real hard cases always seem to be missed in these raids (Recall the mobster that is accused of killing 19 plus people? No SWAT raid...just a ruse to get him out the house...and many suspect him of being the gray haired bandit that was robbing banks in the Los Angeles area).
Militarized Police forces is a problem. I don't have a position on legalizing drugs. I do have a position on abuse of police power.
Major hat tip to Every day, No days off blog.
I disagree with this video. Everyone makes mistakes. SWAT teams are highly trained professionals and personally I do not have a problem with them in the states. I have extensive training with some SWAT members and they do serve a good purpose. I believe this video serves an alike purpose to the idea that all PMCs are untrained war junkies when in reality they serve a decent purpose on the field and give valuable aid to forces around the world.
ReplyDeleteNow the death of Marine Vet Jose was a terrible thing and the raiding of the wrong house was piss poor planning on their part but how many times have they had success? How many times were SWAT teams needed?
You will find fuck ups in any organization the US Military, UK Military, Canadian Military, German Military etc... I feel posting this kinda stuff is unfair to hard working SWAT officers who want to truly protect and serve and just make their community better for their family.
well since i posted the video, you know that i agree with it.
ReplyDeletethe TSA patting down an elderly woman because she has on depends and they make her take them off???
the shooting of a Marine in his house and then the SWAT officers sit outside bullshitting while his wife is inside listening to her husband die?
unless hostages are being held then their is no need for any kind of rush that leads to mistakes.
I HAVE TRAINED WITH SWAT TEAMS FROM A FEW CITIES.
i personally came away unimpressed and i despise the stack that the military and SWAT uses but thats a different conversation.
how you make the jump from SWAT teams in the US abusing authority to PMC's is beyond me though.
but believe me. their is nothing unfair about posting this. our militarized police needs to be put back in their cage. i live in the US, not Nazi Germany.
Please before I post mind I do not mean offense to you in any way these are just my opinions.
ReplyDeleteI see PMCs and this video very related. People seem to band against them like the recent "down with SWAT" idea. When in reality PMCs operate in the US and are well trained professionals alike to SWAT.
But I can not connect TSA with SWAT I think that is a totally different ball game when it comes to SWAT.
I believe that SWAT teams should have good intel before going in and some may be gun happy but they still serve a purpose in the states and to compare them as Nazis is unfair I believe.
I agree with Sol, SWAT units were created for situations in which there is a known hostage/armed-standoff situation. You call in SWAT when the bad-guys are threatening to kill hostages or have just staged a roberry with automatic weapons. You don't use SWAT to conduct freaking search warrants, no matter how "dangerous" you think the individual might be. As Sol already pointed out, there are far more clever ways of serving arrest/search warrants than busting in the front door with guns drawn.
ReplyDeletewell let me ask you one question.
ReplyDeletewhat amount of drugs justifies a no knock raid in the middle of the night when the intelligence might be bad, or out dated?
how do you justify the taking of an innocent life because the clerk jumbled the numbers on the search warrant?
....maybe me and Patrick are the only people that feel this way (trust me...others feel this way too)....
the police should act as protectors of the public, not as there overlords.
what i'm seeing out of certain government agencies and especially in many of these SWAT teams is an attitude that we WILL do as they say and our rights mean nothing.
i would rather we have NO police, than to have police act like this.
We need SWAT. There have been questionable calls but ppl need to understand that the world is not a loving place and it goes for the US as well... Not everyone in the US is a good guy.
ReplyDeleteAs for the overlord thing sometimes DA is protection, in a way.
i agree with Sol that militarization of police is an issue. It will also lead to a very bad feedback loop. if swat in a community becomes too aggressive, then the people in that community lose trust in law enforcement, and they will cooperate less, requiring more heavy handed tactics and less likely to get good intel. These are fellow americans and not iraqis half a world away.
ReplyDelete