The Militarization of America

I recommend stopping by The Agitator and checking his ongoing coverage of post-9/11 militarization of police forces throughout the country, titled "Militarizing Mayberry." The latest example is a small town of 55,000 with a yearly murder rate of one, which has acquired full SWAT gear through post-9/11 increases in federal funding. Since there are no hostage situations or bank robberies occurring, the SWAT teams, armed like soldiers with automatic weapons, are being utilized to serve warrants against nonviolent "drug offenders" (i.e. someone growing a marijuana plant in their closet).

Furthermore, the SWAT teams have been unconstitutionally pushing for no-knock warrants in many situations where it is completely inappropriate. The result of this has been an unacceptable number of outright murders while serving warrants. The common situation is one in which someone wanted for having a small amount of marijuana hears a loud banging in the middle of the night as their door is knocked down. Fearing for their families (and thinking the intruder is likely a criminal), the person sometimes arms himself. Then as soon as the SWAT team sees someone toting a firearm -- the person need not even point the gun at them, let alone fire at the SWAT team -- they open fire.

Instead of using the military to assist in oppressing the American people, which would surely be met with resistance, our government has chosen to make our local police departments into militarized bases. As police departments become assault teams who shoot first and ask questions later (even when pursuing nonviolent "criminals"), the line between police and soldiers becomes blurred and the "War on Drugs" is revealed as what it is: a War on Americans. In small towns and large cities alike, serving warrants against nonviolent offenders is becoming a death sentence for many, with the militarized police as judge, jury and executioner.