Monday, August 01, 2011

A Little More "Police State"?

The Captain notes an article which endorses more sniper-like police.

He doesn't like it.

Mr. Fairburn is pressing towards the increased militarization of U.S. police, while the optimum goal should be the decreased militarization of tactics. But the troubling thing about Mr. Fairburn’s argument is its wide acceptance within the law enforcement community. It’s not uncommon now to find this attitude within police departments. It’s easy to understand the interest in the so-called “black guns” (ARs) with close to two decades of war flashed across our TV screens (I have one), and I am certainly a defender of the right to bear arms as my readers know. I regularly engage in both open and concealed carry.

But interest in tactics, dress, weapons, and so on, isn’t the same thing as behaving like military operators around the public where innocent bystanders can be injured, and where we have the bill of rights to protect us from the state. Mr. Fairburn should rethink his position, but common citizens should become engaged in their local communities to ensure that the police aren’t in fact becoming too autonomous.

Something to think about.

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