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I knew it was an issue when a rural town of at best 2000 people adjacent to where my wife grew up successfully purchased multiple Humvees for "riot control" thr

I knew it was an issue when a rural town of at best 2000 people adjacent to where my wife grew up successfully purchased multiple Humvees for "riot control" through 1033 (a program instituted by a president from the equivalent of a blairite-ish labour party in our country, no less). More about that here: https://www.marketplace.org/2020/06/12/police-departments-1033-military-equipment-weapons/ https://www.marketplace.org/2020/06/12/police-departments-10...

hutzlibu 3y ago
Nitpick about purchased “It’s a transfer, so that means that the agencies don’t have to pay for this equipment. So because the government has already possessed it, paid for it, it’s the Department of Defense’s property.” It seems technically it is still DoD property? But alltogether it is indeed worrysome. Here in germany we have the same trend, even though quite light in comparison. It is rare nowdays, that I see police without bulletproof wests and machine pistols are more and more common. It creates a very different impression ... Speaking of it: my car broke down once and I parked it on the side of a rural road (not in the way). It was weekend and I put a big note in it, saying it will be towed away very soon. Monday morning my wife with the baby were suprised by police on the door. And the first thing they see is the machine pistol and fighting gear. Surely totally necessary to get the same information, they could have gotten from the note in the car (that this very day it will be moved away). I seriously don't know what they were thinking. Probably nothing at all and war gear becomes just standard for engaging with potentially dangerous civilians, who park their car next to the road.
- femiagbabiaka 3y ago
  Thank you, you're correct! Which makes it even worse. That story is horrifying.. it creates a scenario where the slightest misunderstand could escalate things to a point of no return.
RajT88 3y ago
Sort of like how Naperville has APC's, but also somehow is "The Safest Place in America". (That title is a fraud, btw, and the result of systemic non-prosecution, non-reporting, and reduction of felonies to lesser crimes. But they indeed don't have much of a gang violence problem - just major drug problems which go unaddressed.)
- reaperducer 3y ago
  systemic non-prosecution, non-reporting, and reduction of felonies to lesser crimes. This has been going on ever since the F.B.I. started requiring police departments to report their crime statistics in a uniform way. I remember one PD took advantage of a flaw in the forms that only allowed one category per crime. So if someone got robbed and killed, they'd mark it down as a robbery, not a homicide.
  - RajT88 3y ago
    It happens at multiple levels in this case, in order to keep the area's super-low crime stats. I heard from a relative who's on a neighboring town's police force that the DA busts down first time felony offenders to misdemeanors nearly every time (this is at the county level). Except for the really bad stuff like murder, or selling drugs on a playground. I've heard anecdotally from friends that police just refuse to take reports of assault. This is domestic assault, or more "stranger danger" types of assaults (like late at night on the riverwalk). Both physical and sexual types of assault. This apparently doesn't count as "the really bad stuff" I described before. My sister knew a gal who got hit by a van while crossing the street, where there's a crosswalk and a yellow flashing light and a sign. Her leg was broken in a few places. When the police arrived, she received a ticket for jaywalking because she wasn't in the crosswalk. (A funny thing happens when you get hit by a van - you tend to move far away from where you were standing) That jaywalking ticket did not raise the crime stats like ticketing the driver would have. Bonus: It was potentially racially motivated, because the victim was black, and the cops have a reputation for harassing black people in town. Naperville is a fine place to raise your children if you're wealthy and white and your husband is not abusive.

hutzlibu 3y ago

Nitpick about purchased “It’s a transfer, so that means that the agencies don’t have to pay for this equipment. So because the government has already possessed it, paid for it, it’s the Department of Defense’s property.” It seems technically it is still DoD property? But alltogether it is indeed worrysome. Here in germany we have the same trend, even though quite light in comparison. It is rare nowdays, that I see police without bulletproof wests and machine pistols are more and more common. It creates a very different impression ... Speaking of it: my car broke down once and I parked it on the side of a rural road (not in the way). It was weekend and I put a big note in it, saying it will be towed away very soon. Monday morning my wife with the baby were suprised by police on the door. And the first thing they see is the machine pistol and fighting gear. Surely totally necessary to get the same information, they could have gotten from the note in the car (that this very day it will be moved away). I seriously don't know what they were thinking. Probably nothing at all and war gear becomes just standard for engaging with potentially dangerous civilians, who park their car next to the road.

femiagbabiaka 3y ago
Thank you, you're correct! Which makes it even worse. That story is horrifying.. it creates a scenario where the slightest misunderstand could escalate things to a point of no return.

RajT88 3y ago

Sort of like how Naperville has APC's, but also somehow is "The Safest Place in America". (That title is a fraud, btw, and the result of systemic non-prosecution, non-reporting, and reduction of felonies to lesser crimes. But they indeed don't have much of a gang violence problem - just major drug problems which go unaddressed.)

reaperducer 3y ago
systemic non-prosecution, non-reporting, and reduction of felonies to lesser crimes. This has been going on ever since the F.B.I. started requiring police departments to report their crime statistics in a uniform way. I remember one PD took advantage of a flaw in the forms that only allowed one category per crime. So if someone got robbed and killed, they'd mark it down as a robbery, not a homicide.
- RajT88 3y ago
  It happens at multiple levels in this case, in order to keep the area's super-low crime stats. I heard from a relative who's on a neighboring town's police force that the DA busts down first time felony offenders to misdemeanors nearly every time (this is at the county level). Except for the really bad stuff like murder, or selling drugs on a playground. I've heard anecdotally from friends that police just refuse to take reports of assault. This is domestic assault, or more "stranger danger" types of assaults (like late at night on the riverwalk). Both physical and sexual types of assault. This apparently doesn't count as "the really bad stuff" I described before. My sister knew a gal who got hit by a van while crossing the street, where there's a crosswalk and a yellow flashing light and a sign. Her leg was broken in a few places. When the police arrived, she received a ticket for jaywalking because she wasn't in the crosswalk. (A funny thing happens when you get hit by a van - you tend to move far away from where you were standing) That jaywalking ticket did not raise the crime stats like ticketing the driver would have. Bonus: It was potentially racially motivated, because the victim was black, and the cops have a reputation for harassing black people in town. Naperville is a fine place to raise your children if you're wealthy and white and your husband is not abusive.