dimanche 28 juillet 2013

Rise of the Warrior Cop

I came across this article in the WSJ the other day and I was interested enough to start reading a new book called Rise of the Warrior Cop, by Radley Balko:



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...780519904.html



Balko's take: it's a relatively new phenomenon that we accept that the police can break into your house at any time, without knocking or any warning, often based on nothing more than a tip from an informant. Balko claims that prior to the 1960s SWAT style raids were very uncommon, and it was accepted that except in extreme circumstances the police in carrying out a warrant would knock on the door and give the occupant an opportunity to surrender peacefully. He believes that botched raids where children are present, family pets are shot, and occupants are unnecessarily treated with excessive force have become the norm, not the exception.



The trend to militarize the police went on the rise during the Nixon administration with the War On Drugs and went into overdrive in the last decade with the War On Terror. Now (also according to Balko) there are 100 SWAT style raids in private homes in the USA every day. Federal agencies such as NASA and the Department of Education have SWAT teams. Many of the raids are carried out on nonviolent and consensual crimes- e.g. private poker games.



I'd like to add that I am not anti-police. Most encounters I've personally had with the police have been positive. I am however anti-politician and I blame police militarization and the abuses of bad cops mainly on bad politicians and the bad policies they pass into law.





via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=262954&goto=newpost

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