This one made me smile
From the live free or die state.
Police in a small NH town wanted to waste tax dollars on an armored vehicle. You know, to fight terrorists and stuff. But that plan is on hold after residents of the town found out about it:
Resistance began with Mike Clark, a 27-year-old handyman. Clark, who said he’s had a couple encounters with Keene police and currently faces a charge of criminal mischief, read about the Homeland Security grant in the newspaper. “The police are already pretty brutal,” Clark said, claiming he was roughed up in both his encounters with local police. “The last thing they need is this big piece of military equipment to make them think they’re soldiers.”
February 17th, 2012 at 10:17 am
Wow, you’d think the powers that be would learn. Keene is the Wookie Suit stronghold (quite literally that photo Tam used to coin the phrase was shot in Keene) if there is any place that that has fewer grass-eaters that will willingly let the .gov pull bogus stunts like this, its there.
Never underestimate the stupidity of government!
February 17th, 2012 at 10:37 am
That’s just it-they aren’t soldiers and don’t need an Amored vehicle.
February 17th, 2012 at 10:55 am
I’m a card-carrying member of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association. Our most active organizer in my parts is a sheriff. And I’m sick and tired of having my nawth’n accent being misunderstood: I’m calling you a “posse.”
There are plenty of armored vehicles available to the police, on loan, in any worthy cause. Think of it as the Hollywood Gun Shop theory of up-armoring. We are literally waiting in line to volunteer our heavy iron for the good of the nation. Happens a lot, too.
When a governmental unit insists that it needs exclusive ownership (at our expense) and exclusive control of this kind of equipment, they’re telling you that they intend to use it in a cause that most citizen-artificers will not recognize as just.
February 17th, 2012 at 11:10 am
That sentence stands on its own, in all circumstances.
February 17th, 2012 at 11:19 am
I live in a county that apparently has the only Sheriff’s Department in the nation trained by the military to move in on, board and overtake large moving vessels at sea. Total Ninja.
They have a bearcat (or something like it). Hell, they probably got two of them.
Many here just shrug it off and figure we got two nuclear reactors, we’re proximate to DC and we have a lot of weirdos down here (politicians from DC who actually live here when they should be living back in their home district). My distant neighbor is Tom Clancy. He has a freaking tank on his front lawn. Guns go off all the time, as lot of people shoot and hunt. So we’re game.
But even here, the cops keep the military gear in the backyard. It only comes out when they need it or want to show off at the County Fair. And the ninjas don’t wear pajamas. More like EMT uniforms. I don’t like militarization of the police, either. But maybe some places need it more than others.
FWIW: Two years ago our department did board a moving freighter that stopped responding to radio calls as it veered and approached the nuclear plant. Turns out it was an all-Russian crew and they were drunk and passed out three hours (!) after having left port in Baltimore. So I guess every now and then we need the vessel-boarding ninjas.
PS: They sent one of the ninjas to my house to check out my shooting range. Nice guy. Railed about the fact some neighbors just can’t keep their complaints to themselves (someone complained about his range, too). Nice guy.
February 17th, 2012 at 1:28 pm
I used to spend a lot of time in Keene. It is the epitome of “quite college town”. The fact that the police force feels the need to militarize itself in a small town like this is demonstrative of the state of our country. Fucked.
February 17th, 2012 at 11:41 pm
“The last thing they need is this big piece of military equipment to make them think they’re soldiers.”
I kind of have to agree with that statement.
Look, 99 percent of the cops are good guys, but all this ninja stuff is not needed. They now call out SWAT for almost any offense and are used routinely on warrant roundups.
They don’t need a APC or AFV and 90 percent of this sniper stuff they get.
February 19th, 2012 at 3:21 am
I just can’t agree with the “99 percent of the cops are good guys” statement anymore.
For all of Baron Barnett’s State Sponsored Criminal Count posts, and David Codrea’s Only One’s post, and a host of other sources, it seems there are far too many police chiefs and sheriffs willing to cover for their underlings and partners who don’t speak up.
There are at least three criminals in the Harless case in Canton: Harless, his partner for doing nothing during Harless’ criminal behavior, and the police chief for covering for him (including all his previous incidents) before he was left with no choice but to fire him.
I’m trying real hard not to hate cops in general, but with so many incidents and so much endorsement of it, I don’t think I’ll *ever* trust cops with this kind of equipment.
February 20th, 2012 at 3:44 am
“freeman” if you knew there was wrong doing in your local police department what did you do to fix it? It is your community after all. Isn’t the Chief of Police hired by the City Council? Do you vote in local elections? How much responsibility does a community have for reelecting a sheriff that is a weak or corrupt leader or a City Council that does nothing with a weak or corrupt Chief of Police? I can understand your frustration and anger in watching something like the Canton incident but that kind of person is a minority in the law enforcement community, believe it or not. What about the Cop in California that buys a kid lunch in Burger King, or someplace like that, then a few minutes later has someone walk up and shoot him in the head? Was he a bad Cop? Did he deserve to get shot in the head just because he was a cop?
It is frustrating when you see a person in that position of trust doing things like that but in this day and age, even with overt evidence like the video, it can be a drawn out process to get rid of a guy like that. Please don’t think I’m making excuses for that department by the way. I don’t know any of them and have never worked with any of them. I’m just saying I know from personal experience, it can be hard to get rid of bad workers because of lawyers, unions and higher-ups that would rather keep bad people then get sued.
I guess they way I look at it all first responders, including the Police and Sheriff’s Office, need to be ready for the worst case scenario. With that being said not all places need something like this vehicle but what about rural areas that are not near another jurisdiction that could help out? What are those guys supposed to do, distract a shooter by running and letting him take shots at them? Or are they all dirty cops anyway and to hell with them and their families? If you “really” want to find out what the Cops in your area are like go on a ride-along with them and find out for yourself.
February 20th, 2012 at 1:28 pm
Started to respond to Curtis and became a long rant. If you’re interested, read it here: http://markofafreeman.blogspot.com/2012/02/institutional-thuggery.html