

How did America’s police become a military force on the streets? - jakewalker
http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/how_did_americas_police_become_a_military_force_on_the_streets/

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mikestew
I wondered about this a few years ago when my bus stop in Redmond, WA was
moved temporarily and I had to walk by the police station to get to the bus.
In the parking lot sat an armored personnel carrier. What in the hell does
Redmond, a town of 50K at the time and about as low on crime as you're going
to get, need with an APC? And what excuses does the PD find to use it? This in
a town where one patrol cop, when interviewed during a ride-along by the local
paper, stated that patrol is pretty boring in Redmond.

At first I thought that they got it cheap or free, but it still costs money.
Personnel have to be trained and regularly drilled, and maintenance isn't
free. When money is being spent, it's going to get used. And I can't help but
think of Barney Fife when I think of quiet little Redmond's PD running around
in an APC.

~~~
Wistar
Hah! I too, have seen that V150 APC driving around Redmond and wondered why
they have such a thing. I talked to an acquaintence, an engineer for the city
of Redmond, and he told me that the tires are so fragile on hard surfaces that
the little buttons they use in lane dividers can shred the tires, each of
which is several thousand dollars and each of which have had to be replaced a
few times.

~~~
mikestew
A couple grand to put tires on the department's penisMobile, huh? _sigh_ I
think it's time to run for Redmond city council again. The question is: has
any candidate for any city council ever won a seat after saying he'll cut the
police department's budget? :-) Which might explain how police departments
arrived at their current state to begin with.

~~~
Wistar
You should. The license plate cameras, the elaborately stealthy cars, the
motorcycles that look as though they came from Tron, the smart car parking
enforcement cars festooned with electronics... All of it seems a bit exquisite
given what I perceive to be a low risk environment. But, then, I am just
guessing and I do understand how much better and effective a job can be done
with good equipment.

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cafard
It is odd that a law school professor should take that view of the
constitution; after all, it primarily regulated the duties and powers of the
federal government and its relations to the states. I think that a lot of
things are wrong with the way that the US does policing. But to pretend that
the constitution gives a detailed description of the principles of right
government is absurd, and done by one who teaches law implies either willful
ignorance or sophistry.

------
jakewalker
Excerpt from a book by Radley Balko, The Rise of the Warrior Cop (link:
[http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Warrior-Cop-Militarization-
Americ...](http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Warrior-Cop-Militarization-
Americas/dp/1610392116))

------
cpursley
Chapter 12:

[https://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp#contents](https://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp#contents)

------
waps
I've never understood that about America. You guys have weak doors. In Western
Europe you have brick houses, heavy double glazing, and the outer doors are
solid wood or stretched metal, or one of the very heavy plastics reinforced
with metal bars. The walls, nearly all of them, are concrete or brick.
Security doors are reinforced concrete. Lately there has been a big push (by
the police) to replace traditional locks with security locks and put locks and
shutters on the windows, security doors, ... complete with tax breaks and a
personal advisor (police would come down and do a security survey of your
house if you wanted them to. They'd index all the entrances and exits, point
out where there would be no visibility, tell you to have at least one locked
barrier inside the house, ... Then give you the report, and I don't think they
even kept a copy. Not that it would help them that much to get in). Windows
get double tax breaks : better security and better isolation.

The big problem they're trying to protect against is power-tool equipped
robbery gangs coming in from outside of the country, but within the EU.

Frankly, given the response to self-defense these days (intrusion = 1 year
probation, hurting an intruder goes from 6 months to 10 years, but guaranteed
not to be fully probation), you're pretty much forced to do things this way,
plus it's a lot safer.

If the police wanted to kick down my door (previous owner installed a security
door) ... they'd have to bring a tank, or heavy power tools, and it would take
them 20-30 minutes to get in. SWAT teams exist of course, and they regularly
get into that situation. Person locks himself in with drugs, and they need the
entire afternoon to get past the door of the house.

Then you go visit America, and you see American houses. I'm not exactly fit
anymore, but I'm pretty sure I could kick down one of those doors. The windows
do not resist a light tap (average West European windows will easily resist a
football getting kicked into them, good ones will resist a hammer, and when
they do shatter, they shatter like plastic does, which still doesn't give you
access without 10 minutes of cleanup)

Always wondered why that is. Is it just cheaper ?

~~~
mikestew
Cheaper, and in most cases it's good enough. I often read British motorcycle
magazines, and I'm shocked at the anti-theft tips in the mags. Sure, you've
got your usual tips on locking it when you're out. No biggie, I use a disc
lock a lot of times myself, and wouldn't leave a bike on the streets of NYC
without some serious locking equipment. But the difference really set in when
one sportbike mag had a list of preferred baby monitors to use for the garage.
That's for after the thief has broken into your garage ( _could_ happen in the
U. S.), and is now working on extracting the bike from the anchor that holds
the bike to the floor (I don't think they even sell these in the U. S.) _while
you 're in the house_ (in which case a thief stands a non-zero chance of being
shot in the U. S). It does make me wonder what the hell is going on over there
in Britain.

I won't even try to explain what the difference is, but it has never even
occurred to me to wonder if my windows can resist a hammer (I doubt they
could, but have no idea). Granted, I live in a boring suburban town (see
comment elsewhere: Redmond, WA). And when the Redmond SWAT team brings their
APC and wants in, it won't take them long. And the bastards will probably
shoot the two pit bulls before they realize they have the wrong house.

