Unlimited Ferguson Thread of police state nightmare fuel.

[Cain]

This is to do with the shooting of black teens by the police force, right?

Interesting, how quickly the police are able to deploy their paramilitary capability when they feel the need to.  A shame they apparently cannot use such overwhelming force to peacefully effect the end-stage of criminal operations.

Some shitty little suburb in one of the poorer states in the union can just call up this kind of operation at the snap of a finger. That's...comforting.

Imagine if there were a network of protesters that could be called up with that level of efficiency.

Well, it does help that there are, in fact, special purchasing programs which allow US police departments to acquire military grade weaponry at really cut-price rates.

And well, it was either that or spend money on prevention programs which are boring and don't play well with the LawandOrder crowd.

It's been pointed out by smarter people than I that if you give law enforcement military gear, they start acting like they're in the military.  The streets then become a battlefield, and the people they're sworn to protect become the enemy.

Psh.  Just because many cops are ex-soldiers, using military gear and constantly referencing military lingo and military operational theories ("population-centric counterinsurgency") doesn't mean they're all going to suddenly act like Rambo for no reason.

Perish the thought.

[LMNO]

"We're gonna Protect and Serve the fuck out of you."

[Cain]

See how he's raising his arms?  It's well known that animals attempt to inflate their size in order to intimidate and threaten other animals.  And that, my friends, is a criminal act.

[LMNO]

You're on fire today, Cain.

[Cain]

As are parts of Missouri.

And by "parts", I mean people.

[Da6s]

Per HuffPo, police are withdrawing. Apparently arresting journalists is bad press. Also doesn't help that Missouri's MIA governor is visiting the town today.

Report: St. Louis County Police To Be Withdrawn From Duty After Ferguson Protests

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/14/ferguson-protest-police_n_5678441.html

[Da6s]

Vice did a really good episode (S2, E12) on the militarization of police & surveillance in Camden, NJ. Watch it if you have HBO access.

Here's their recap of it: https://news.vice.com/article/vice-on-hbo-debriefs-surveillance-city-the-forgotten-war

[The Good Reverend Roger]

So, Black kid gets shot by cops in Mississippi, police react decisively by turning their town into North Korea.

How much of a surprise is this?  I mean, the country was FOUNDED by killing Blacks (and Native Americans, and anyone else who was handy), at it's not like the deep South has changed on an institutional level.  Shit, just look at Florida.

21C...It's like 20C, only we use our tanks on ourselves instead of the regular kind of Nazi.

[von]

>everyone omitting the fact that the day after Mike Brown got killed, there were violent riots and looting in the streets

Fuck this narrative about peaceful protesters. They devolved into smashing in store fronts and stealing shit at random on day one. Hardly "peaceful" and hardly directed at the police force that committed injustice against them, if you ask me...

[Aucoq]

This is to do with the shooting of black teens by the police force, right?

Interesting, how quickly the police are able to deploy their paramilitary capability when they feel the need to.  A shame they apparently cannot use such overwhelming force to peacefully effect the end-stage of criminal operations.

Some shitty little suburb in one of the poorer states in the union can just call up this kind of operation at the snap of a finger. That's...comforting.

Imagine if there were a network of protesters that could be called up with that level of efficiency.

Well, it does help that there are, in fact, special purchasing programs which allow US police departments to acquire military grade weaponry at really cut-price rates.

And well, it was either that or spend money on prevention programs which are boring and don't play well with the LawandOrder crowd.

Exactly.  The police department from the town next to mine recently got an armored personnel carrier (an APC, for fuck's sake!) for free from the military.  The first thought of literally everyone I talked to was "why do they need an armored vehicle?"

To enforce the peace, of course! 

[von]

This is to do with the shooting of black teens by the police force, right?

Interesting, how quickly the police are able to deploy their paramilitary capability when they feel the need to.  A shame they apparently cannot use such overwhelming force to peacefully effect the end-stage of criminal operations.

Some shitty little suburb in one of the poorer states in the union can just call up this kind of operation at the snap of a finger. That's...comforting.

Imagine if there were a network of protesters that could be called up with that level of efficiency.

Well, it does help that there are, in fact, special purchasing programs which allow US police departments to acquire military grade weaponry at really cut-price rates.

And well, it was either that or spend money on prevention programs which are boring and don't play well with the LawandOrder crowd.

Exactly.  The police department from the town next to mine recently got an armored personnel carrier (an APC, for fuck's sake!) for free from the military.  The first thought of literally everyone I talked to was "why do they need an armored vehicle?"

To enforce the peace, of course! 

A funny thing about po-dunk departments getting things like APCs and MRAPs for cheap is that oftentimes, they don't have the budget to actually maintain the damn things...

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

>everyone omitting the fact that the day after Mike Brown got killed, there were violent riots and looting in the streets

Fuck this narrative about peaceful protesters. They devolved into smashing in store fronts and stealing shit at random on day one. Hardly "peaceful" and hardly directed at the police force that committed injustice against them, if you ask me...

Fuck your idiot face.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

>everyone omitting the fact that the day after Mike Brown got killed, there were violent riots and looting in the streets

Fuck this narrative about peaceful protesters. They devolved into smashing in store fronts and stealing shit at random on day one. Hardly "peaceful" and hardly directed at the police force that committed injustice against them, if you ask me...

It was also only a few people only on day one, and they were arrested.

Secondly, I'm assuming that your expert opinion is based on being a member of a minority group that has suffered institutionalized oppression since day one in a society that you're constantly reminded that any equality you get is lip service and a pat on the back saying hey you're not slaves anymore and even one of you is the president (you know the same guy, that has earned legitimate criticism but that shit never gets heard because of butthurt latent racism making a shitstink over non-issues), walking around with the knowledge that a police officer may use any excuse to brutalize you during any interaction with them? That wouldn't make you more prone to flip your shit and go nuts when the authorities murdered one of your community and you're just fucking sick of it?

[hooplala]

Did anyone really think von was going to have a different opinion on this?  Like, really?

[von]

Nah, hear me out on this:

Immediately after the event, violent riots occurred.
In order to restord public order, the police had to resort to drastic measures because of the scale of things.
theres a shit ton of confusion and things are a potential powder keg -- of course the police remain heavy handed; theyre afraid rioting could resume.

I mean, its not a matter of me trying to say "grr these damn dirty apes are burning the world down"...rather trying to bring it into perspective that violent riots occured and the intense police reaction is still in that mindset -- that economic resources in the area could be detroyed and lives could be lost.