Is there any? I don't know. Though, there oughta be.
Read this below, if'n ya believe in a "middle ground"?
Conservatives, libertarians and liberals should all worry about the militarization of police
I want the police to be better armed than the bad guys, but what exactly does that mean today?
Apparently it means the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security equip even the tiniest rural police departments with massive military vehicles, body armor and grenade launchers. The equipment is surplus from the long wars we fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
To a hammer, everything resembles a nail. SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams were once used only in emergencies such as riots or robberies where hostages were taken. But today there are more than 50,000 "no-knock raids" a year.
Government always grows, and government is force. Force is always dangerous.
It's not because crime got worse. There is less crime today. Crime peaked around 1990 and is now at a 40-year low. But as politicians keep passing new criminal laws, police find new reasons to deploy their heavy equipment.
Washington Post reporter Radley Balko points out that they've used SWAT teams to raid such threatening haunts as truck stops with video poker machines, unlicensed barber shops and a frat house where underage drinking was reported.
In New York City, these men in black raided standup comedian Joe Lipari's apartment.
"I had bad customer service at the Apple Store," Lipari told me in an interview for my upcoming TV special "Policing America." "So I bitched about it on Facebook. I thought I was funny. I quoted 'Fight Club,'" the 1999 movie about bored yuppies who attack parts of consumer culture they hate.
"People (on Facebook) were immediately responding that it was obviously from 'Fight Club,'" says Lipari. "It was a good time, until 90 minutes later, a SWAT team knocked on my door. Everyone's got their guns drawn."
It took only that long for authorities to deem Lipari a threat and authorize a raid by a dozen armed men. Yet, says Lipari, "if they took 90 seconds to Google me, they would have seen I'm teaching a yoga class in an hour, that I had a comedy show."
Lipari has no police record. If he is a threat, so are you.
SWAT raids are dangerous, and things often go wrong. People may shoot at the police if they mistake the cops for ordinary criminals and pick up guns to defend their homes against invasion. Sometimes cops kill the frightened homeowner who raises a gun.
Because America has so many confusing laws, and also because cops sometimes make mistakes, it's harder to assume -- as conservatives often do -- that as long as you behave yourself, you have nothing to fear.
The raids should also trouble libertarians who sometimes believe that government can mostly be trusted when it sticks to "legitimate" functions like running police, courts and the military.
Government always grows, and government is force. Force is always dangerous.
It's healthy for conservatives, libertarians and liberals alike to worry about the militarization of police. Conservatives worry about a repeat of incidents like the raids on religious radicals at Ruby Ridge and Waco, Texas. Liberals condemn police brutality like the recent asphyxiation death of a suspect at the hands of police in New York.
This is a rare issue where I agree with left-wing TV host Bill Maher. On his TV show last week, Maher ranted about no-knock raids "breaking up poker games, arresting low-level pot dealers."
Maher's right to point out that most SWAT raids are now done to arrest nonviolent drug offenders. "It's a guy who sells weed," says Maher. "You don't need to shoot his dog and crash through his window."
But they do. If cops continue to take a warlike us-versus-them approach to policing the population, they just might bring the left and right together. Government is reckless, whether it is intruding into our lives with byzantine regulations that destroy a fledgling business or with a flash-bang grenade like the one that critically wounded a child in a recent SWAT raid in Janesville, Georgia.
Regardless of our political leanings, we should be wary of big government in all its forms.
John Stossel is the host of "Stossel" (Thursdays at 9 PM/ET), a weekly program highlighting current consumer issues with a libertarian viewpoint. Stossel also appears regularly on Fox News Channel (FNC) providing signature analysis.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/07/ ... arization/
Thoughts?
Once upon a time, I worked for the fourth largest city PD in America. We were known for having a really hard nosed Chief of Police, Herman Short. Through out his reign/tenure with the PD, he refused all Federal Money in regard to subsidies and relinquishing his "total" control of the PD to the Fed's.
When Short retired/left office and a new Mayor (gay and ultra left wing) was elected? The new Chief, Harry Caldwell took over. The new Chief and the Mayor then began accepting Federal Funds and intervention in the PD. In other words....the beginning of the big decline in control, accountability and responsibility from within. Now, it was big words, surveys and bull shit to appease the Federal Govt. teat. This consumed a great deal of our man power....and at that time the PD was 2000 officers short of their man power goal. I was one of the over due/needed officers.
Any who, what I'm rambling towards in making my point...is that all of this crap, going on locally in other PD's has it's origins in the late 60's and early 70's and the civil unrest that occurred then. It has now culminated/grown to what Stossel is pointing out....a potential abuse of force or an actual abuse in some instances.
Why and How did/does this happen?
Well, all of these PD's, to include both large and small, have budgetary constraints/limitations imposed on them for "training". Not enough monies exist or are allocated to training. I strongly believe, that with the additional "equipment" being donated to their agencies by the Federal Government...that the PD's are making up opportunities to train..."on the job". This is dangerous as hell. I for one, am very glad that Stossel and Maher are pointing this abuse out. It's a rare thing for me to agree with Bill Maher. This is a "frightening" situation and it should be curbed immediately. The big question is?
Will it be curbed?
The answer is?
Most likely not.
Why?
The Fed's "own" every PD and financially have all "law enforcement" on the hook.
Not trying to start a political argument here.....however, if ya look back....recently?
You'll find many accusations of Government Abuse of both Trust and Authority.
In summary, the Fed's are scared...damned scared.
As Stossel and Maher have pointed out....you should be too.