The Best Video That Sums Up Police Militarization

"KylesPerGallon" (gentlemandriver)
08/14/2014 at 16:12 • Filed to: None

You're out of your mind if you think that theres any justification to the police being as well equipped as they are today.

Just watch Vice News on YouTube and see how well equipped the 'soldiers' in Ukraine and Gaza are. The simple fact is that war vehicles and weapons are coming home in alarming numbers and having their Desert Camo paint jobs resprayed Protect and Serve Blue.

But you don't have to hear it from me, theres a Retired U.S. Marine Colonel who says it best.

DISCUSSION (27)

Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. > KylesPerGallon
08/14/2014 at 16:23

Not to sound like a leftist, tree huggin' commie hippy...but I agree with you 100% it is already out of hand here.

For Sweden > KylesPerGallon
08/14/2014 at 16:23

Why pay $100,000 for a new Charger Interceptor when an MRAP is free?

KylesPerGallon > For Sweden
08/14/2014 at 16:28

Screw the MRAP tho, I don't care if its got a million torque, it can't light up the rears like the Interceptors can.

Honestly, cop cars should be the best part about being a cop. Not the short barreled rifles or exorbitant usage of SWAT for falsely claimed 'high risk warrants'.

You should want to be a cop so you can roll up to a crime scene and take off your glasses and say something cheesy like, "Looks like he forgot to pay the meter"

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast.
08/14/2014 at 16:29

Why don't you go buy a Prius while you're at it.

Kidding of course. I would never wish that on anyone.

Jeff-God-of-Biscuits > KylesPerGallon
08/14/2014 at 16:37

Might be overstepping the Gawker mandates here, but it is exactly this that the Founding Fathers had in mind when the wrote the 2nd Amendment . If you have a Government that has to be a least a little afraid of it's people, they worry about what you might think when they overstep their authority.

EL_ULY > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
08/14/2014 at 16:38

i'd take one. Save an butt load on gas, especially since I seldom pass 45MPH on my daily 40min commute lol.

Buuuut.... cosmetically, I just have to change it not not look like a giant metal pussy :] That there is a real OPPO Challenge, how do you modify the exterior of a Prius to look at the very least "meh". Fire is not an option lol :]

EL_ULY > KylesPerGallon
08/14/2014 at 16:39

We need military grade police down here in North Mexico (Texas)

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > EL_ULY
08/14/2014 at 16:42

Well they didn't just put the Guard done there.

EL_ULY > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
08/14/2014 at 16:48

I cousin worked for USBP, I've hung out at a station near El Paso a lot. It is seriously WAR down there. The videos of criminals attacking agents is sick to watch. I honestly do not think the National Guard is enough. The drug runners are well armed militias with very high numbers. At any given raid in northern Mexico, the Mexican Government will loose 15-20 soldiers (not just Federal Police) due to the crazy high amount of fire power these Cartels have. They can take out a large group on National Guardsmen easily i promise

PatBateman > EL_ULY
08/14/2014 at 16:50

Fire is always an option when it comes to the Prius.

EL_ULY > PatBateman
08/14/2014 at 16:52

involuntarily lol

PatBateman > EL_ULY
08/14/2014 at 16:54

On the border? YEAH. A lot of people that don't live down here think that we're trying to erect a wall to keep nice people who are trying to find a better life out of the US. In reality, we're trying to keep the cartels out. The people that operate as coyotes, drug runners, and hit men.

That's why we need MRAPs and arsenals down there: to even the odds.

EL_ULY > PatBateman
08/14/2014 at 16:56

yes! Shit, about 10 years ago lol

M54B30 > KylesPerGallon
08/14/2014 at 16:58

as a cop, criminal justice graduate, recreational CJ professor, let me say this: the best way for the police to enhance their relationships with their community is to dismount and get to know the people. Get on foot, be friends with them, treat them with respect and police the departments from the inside.

PatBateman > M54B30
08/14/2014 at 17:10

Absolutely agree. This is where the PR machine in Ferguson, MO is failing horribly. Community outreach is one of the most important aspects when a PD is trying to invoke calm during calamity.

And for the love of all things holy, if you think you need to roll out SWAT during a demonstration, keep them OUT OF SIGHT until they are absolutely needed!!

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > KylesPerGallon
08/14/2014 at 17:13

I tentatively agree with you.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > EL_ULY
08/14/2014 at 17:24

Jesus, I don't know what you could do at this point. Unless we had like an entire Army there.

M54B30 > PatBateman
08/14/2014 at 17:26

absolutely. Too many top cops have a hard-on for ex-mil gear and think that displaying it will intimidate protesters. It just incites them and is bad PR for the departments. Leave them for when things get real bad.

These protests will settle soon and in a week nobody will remember the name Ferguson.

EL_ULY > norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback
08/14/2014 at 17:37

and make the process for obvious non criminals easier. I have 6 months and about $2000 so far just to get my wife a temporary residency "green card". We still got a ways to got so she can come to the US but fuck man, I understand why people take the risk of dying. Either stay in mexico and get bullied/murdered by cartel or risk it, come here and stay for a while (which is also wrong because it is the law, not racism). Mexico needs to get their ass in gear and fix this shit but at the same time, nobody ever speaks of where these drugs are going once here in the US. The answer is right under wealthy american's noses literally, but that's all I'll say. I stand by what my cousin fought for in the USBP and my country but having my origins and wife from Mexico, i'm always fighting for both sides.

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > EL_ULY
08/14/2014 at 17:42

I agree we need to make it easier for people that are clean and want to come here, BUT we also need to be harder than what we are at the border. I guess it's hard for me to talk about this living near the border that doesn't have issues. I wish you luck with your wife.

KylesPerGallon > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
08/14/2014 at 17:53

are you sure?

KylesPerGallon > PatBateman
08/14/2014 at 17:55

ABSOLUTELY... theres no need for decommissioned armored vehicles in New Hampshire send that shit down to TX

PatBateman > KylesPerGallon
08/14/2014 at 18:19

Agree.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > KylesPerGallon
08/14/2014 at 18:42

Fairly sure. I mean, you aren't gonna find me going "the police only need billy clubs and pepper spray", but some of what they have now seems excessive.

That being said, the number of times that the police do something like the Ferguson or whatever are outnumbered a million to one by the amount of times police do their duty.

KylesPerGallon > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
08/14/2014 at 19:52

Yea but theres no accountability or any substantial punishment that these guys see for excessive force. Its because if they ever were sent to corrections they couldn't be left with the general public.

So more often than not they get a slap on the wrist which never gets publicized. I come from a long family of cops on both sides. My great uncle was police commissioner of the NYPD in the 90s. There is nothing that gives them the right to harass innocent civilians.

The media frenzy will die down in Ferguson until its sparked back up someplace else.

There needs to be accountability for an 18 year old gunned down by police. You know what, they should get blood but it should be through the legal system and not this smoke and mirrors game they're playing now.

thebigbossyboss > KylesPerGallon
08/14/2014 at 22:56

Agreed. The militarization of the police is becoming a real problem in the us.

Svend > KylesPerGallon
08/15/2014 at 12:32

Things north of the border in Scotland are getting talked about with some police officers walking about their duties with a gun in a holster. The reason that is is that they are regular police too and have to make up their hours like any other police officer but have to be able to respond should they get a call to respond to an armed incident. These officers walking with weapons has un-nerved some people and to put it into context or the 18,000-ish police officers in Scotland only 275 routinely carry a gun, but it's still enough to create un-ease. We have come to expect armed officers at airports and some ferry terminals, high profile court cases and occasionally with royal visits (but they keep very low key for this).

Your officers are all armed or at least the vast majority are, but to see APVs, etc... in police livery would be hellish scary and overkill. The idea of the police is to protect the people and to be approachable to help keep people safe not to go around weapons out intimidating everyone into thinking the police have been dissolved and replaced with the army, etc...