Another Frightening Example of Cops Dressing Like Soldiers

Take a look at the group in the image below and guess which
branch of the military they below to.

Marines? Nope. Army Rangers? Nope. These are Michigan cops who
graduated from Emergency Support Team 11th Basic School.

The picture was mentioned yesterday by Washington Post
blogger Radley Balko, who
published a post on the image after it appeared in a tweet from
the Michigan Department of State Police and was retweeted by
Republican Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder.

The original tweet has been deleted from the @MichStatePolice
Twitter account. 

From Balko:

There are good reasons for state police agencies to have SWAT
teams. In fact, it’s far preferable for a well-funded,
well-trained, full-time SWAT team from a state police outpost to
respond to emergency situations than for every small town in
America to have a SWAT team of its own. (Typically, most places
have both.) But until Canadian troops start marching on the Upper
Peninsula, it’s hard to envision a scenario under which state
troopers would need to don camouflage uniforms, face paint and
ghillie hats.

Even if one could fathom such a scenario or two, it’s also
regrettable that this is the face the Michigan State Police want to
project to the public. These guys aren’t the military. Their
mission is not to annihilate a foreign enemy on a battlefield.
They’re domestic police officers who serve the residents of
Michigan. Their mission is to protect the constitutional rights of
those residents. It’s important that they, our elected officials
and we all know and appreciate the difference.

More from Reason on the militarization of police
here.