Dispatch from the SWATification of America: As the war(s) wind
down, local police forces are gearing up. Some
great coverage in The New York Times about the flow of
armored vehicles, aircraft, and night vision goggles into American
communities.
The Times quotes a “more in sorrow than in anger” line
from a local police chief:
“I don’t like it. I wish it were the way it was when I was a
kid,” he said. But he said the possibility of violence, however
remote, required taking precautions. “We’re not going to go out
there as Officer Friendly with no body armor and just a handgun and
say ‘Good enough.’ “
And then calls him out on his historical illiteracy:
Congress created the military-transfer program in the early
1990s, when violent crime plagued America’s cities and the police
felt outgunned by drug gangs. Today, crime has fallen to its lowest
levels in a generation, the wars have wound down, and despite
current fears, the number of domestic terrorist attacks has
declined sharply from the 1960s and 1970s.
Perhaps the juiciest bit:
In the Indianapolis suburbs, officers said they needed a
mine-resistant vehicle to protect against a possible attack by
veterans returning from war.“You have a lot of people who are coming out of the military
that have the ability and knowledge to build I.E.D.’s and to defeat
law enforcement techniques,” Sgt. Dan Downing of the Morgan County
Sheriff’s Department told
the local Fox affiliate, referring to improvised explosive
devices, or homemade bombs. Sergeant Downing did not return a
message seeking comment.
from Hit & Run http://ift.tt/1tZlOrD
via IFTTT