The Ferguson, Missouri thread

[Andalusian girls]

that didn't really work out in Injustice

[NynJa]

So much for holding police to a higher standard.

They're still human, those beer bottles and rocks your "peaceful protesters" throw at them can still cause grave bodily harm. Some of them have a wife, maybe kids, they'd like to get home too..or perhaps a girlfriend, or perhaps a pet dog. How do you think poor Fido will feel if his owner never comes home because he's in the morgue because a bunch of "peaceful protesters" beat him to death?

[Byrthnoth]

They're still human, those beer bottles and rocks your "peaceful protesters" throw at them can still cause grave bodily harm. Some of them have a wife, maybe kids, they'd like to get home too..or perhaps a girlfriend, or perhaps a pet dog.

Wait, they have dogs?

Glass everyone.

[notorious bum]

The crowd that got blasted by mace and baton'ed were not throwing the rocks or bottles. Shouting obscenities at cops doesn't warrant a beat down, no matter how cool that sounds. This type of blatant "fuck em all" malfeasance dates back to the civil rights era and even those silly Occupy Wallstreet protests, it doesn't work and continues to keep their shoddy police work under the limelight.

[Xno Kappa]

I'd be scared shitless if I ran a CVS or Foot Locker right about now.

[Yuri-G]

If the guy was in handcuffs, I don't think this is premature at all.

If he wasn't, it's a bit tougher.

Your comment makes no sense because we don't know if he was in handcuffs or not, which is what makes it premature.

[Salodin]

I'd be scared shitless if I ran a CVS or Foot Locker right about now.

On the bright side, lots of cheap sneakers for sale soon in the Minneapolis area.

[archibaldcrane]

Your comment makes no sense because we don't know if he was in handcuffs or not, which is what makes it premature.

Well, clearly some people (the cops, likely the bystanders) know - it's just a question of whether they are lying to others.

[NynJa]

The crowd that got blasted by mace and baton'ed were not throwing the rocks or bottles. Shouting obscenities at cops doesn't warrant a beat down, no matter how cool that sounds. This type of blatant "fuck em all" malfeasance dates back to the civil rights era and even those silly Occupy Wallstreet protests, it doesn't work and continues to keep their shoddy police work under the limelight.

Maybe no one in THAT crowd was throwing bottles and rocks (which you cant prove). But even if, can you honestly say the same about every "peaceful protest"? No, you cant, and thats why they "suited up".

Hope for the best, plan for the worst.

[6souls]

I'd be scared shitless if I ran a CVS or Foot Locker right about now.

I was going to say not a chance, but Google tells me there is one of each of those in that part of the city.

[jmc]

Curious question i'm going to ask here since I don't know where to ask.

What do you guys think "military equipment" means when it comes to police?

There are alot of organizations calling for removal of military equipment in law enforcement, and some of it makes sense. However there is a protest at a college in LA, and one of the items they are demanding the police stop using is ballistic vests. Curious what others think of this?

[BerenTebogo]

Not using bulletproof vests is downright retarded.

[Thunder]

Isn't there a lot of "military equipment" because the military has so much extra shit that gets phased out every so often (especially true of the military vehicles right? We kept interchanging what our standard type of vehicle was in relation to IEDs which started at 5lb of explosive and went all the way up to 2000 lb over the years) and then auctioned off at really low prices to police depts?

It's basically use the stuff back home or just trash it... and in that case I'd much rather the police get it. The amount of military equipment out there has like nothing to do with police departments directly right? Like, they're not manufacturing the stuff FOR police officers

I'm not even going to entertain the ballistic vest thing. I can see people complaining about excessively high caliber weapons, excessively heavy vehicles, and other stuff though

[notorious bum]

I haven't heard about that one. Not sure how it could be justified that a vest is a threat to someone else's safety. There are plenty of other pieces of equipment that people have legitimate grievances about (tear gas, "less lethal" ammo), this is definitely not one of them.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Modhat off for a moment, because I really, really hate what militarization is doing to our police forces.

Fully automatic weapons
tanks/APCs/etc
grenades/mortars/non-breeching lethal explosives
armed UAVs (dunno if those are being distributed domestically yet but no doubt they will be)

The exception being SWAT teams. The whole point of a SWAT team is to fill the occasional need for a heavily armed police force; such forces are never needed on a large scale. Riot control is its own thing: you want a large heavily armored force, but armed with mostly non-lethal weapons.

If you're gonna arm a police force like an army, you might as well just call them a Militia and stop pussy-footing around.

[Blubbartron]

I think what intelligent people have in mind when they talk about militarization of the police force is how SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) used to have all the high end goodies, and more and more entire police forces are getting those same goodies, but they have half the training, and generally speaking, aren't as talented as SWAT folks are. When your entire police force is in full body armor and carrying assault weapons, that's not a police force anymore. That's an army.

edit: dammit, beaten by Bane. He said it better.

[Roranora]

I don't think Wichita necessarily needs an MRAP, but clearly, vests are vital equipment.

[jmc]

Modhat off for a moment, because I really, really hate what militarization is doing to our police forces.

Fully automatic weapons
tanks/APCs/etc
grenades/mortars/non-breeching lethal explosives
armed UAVs (dunno if those are being distributed domestically yet but no doubt they will be)

The exception being SWAT teams. The whole point of a SWAT team is to fill the occasional need for a heavily armed police force; such forces are never needed on a large scale. Riot control is its own thing: you want a large heavily armored force, but armed with mostly non-lethal weapons.

If you're gonna arm a police force like an army, you might as well just call them a Militia and stop pussy-footing around.

100% agree with you on this.

Most of that equipment has no business in law enforcement, and the select items that are needed should only be in the hands of SWAT/Entry teams.

[Churchill]

Not that I care you guys wear vests, but you don't wear vests that stop 5.56. If I remember correctly, the biggest push to get all officers vests came from some shit in LA where dudes used AR's. Majority of AR's in the US have to be 5.56.

[dasva]

I don't necessarily have a problem with them having the equipment as it would be rotting away or being sold to people who hate us.

But I do have a problem with inappropriate level of force and by extension gear used. And the situation where it'd be appropriate to use some of the more damaging offensive weaponry usually isn't the situation you'd want or even expect normal cops to handle.

And then there is the training/familiarity issue with people using much more weapon than they are used to or can handle which is just asking for a mishap