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Militarized police

Militarized Police in Baton Rouge Draw Global Attention

July 17, 2016 Robert Mackey, www.theintercept.com , ,
By Robert Mackey for the Intercept. Photographs and video of heavily armed police officers wearing body armor and helmets arresting protesters in Baton Rouge over the weekend reverberated on social networks and in the world’s media, focusing new attention on the militarization of police forces across the United States. Another photograph taken by Bachman, showing a police officer’s knee pinning an African-American protester’s head to the pavement, struck a chord with photo editors in Iran and Russia, where the crackdown on peaceful protesters made complaints from the United States government about repression of dissent in those countries seem hypocritical. ... As the Baton Rouge Advocate reported, a demonstration in a residential neighborhood of the city on Sunday only got more heated when about 300 marchers were blocked by officers wearing gas masks and driving an armored vehicle with an ear-splitting sound cannon called an LRAD, or long-range acoustic device. The image that drew the most comment, taken by Jonathan Bachman for Reuters, showed a young woman in a dress standing serenely on a road outside the Baton Rouge police headquarters as two Louisiana State Police officers dressed for battle rushed to arrest her.

Afromation Protest In Baltimore Against Police Violence

July 17, 2016 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org , , , , ,
By Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance. The Afromation protest in Baltimore stood up for black life and the importance of black culutre in the face of ongoing killings. To understand the reasons for protests in Baltimore and across the nation, we must look at the "race-based trauma" caused by police killings. As we prepared to march, I was talking with two of our colleagues. They described how it felt to be an African American man and see video of people who look like them being killed by police for no reason. It creates a trauma that requires them to act in order to stop it. The demands of the Afromation protests are reasonable: 1. An all-elected civilain complaint review board to give communities control of the police and self-determination; 2. A ten percent cut in the police budget away from militarization of the police and surveillance of the community with the funds used for community programming.

Hillary Clinton And Chuck Schumer Teaming Up With NYPD

June 13, 2016 Sarah Lazare, www.alternet.org , , ,
By Sarah Lazare for AlterNet - Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton are teaming up with the NYPD to request high levels of funding for a federal “counter-terror” program that is directly bankrolling the militarization of police forces nationwide. To secure the funds, they are invoking the threat of terrorism and exploiting the climate of fear and incitement that has come to define the 2016 election cycle. At issue is the the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI), which was created in 2003 as a Department of Homeland Security grant program aimed at assisting “high-threat, high-density Urban Areas...

Preempting Dissent

June 12, 2016 Andy Opel and Greg Elmer, , www.thoughtmaybe.com ,
By Andy Opel and Greg Elmer for Preempting Dissent. The legacy of the Bush administration and the so-called “War on Terror” includes a new logic that stretches well beyond the realm of overzealous security agencies, airport security and international relations, and into suppressing public protest; expanded surveillance aimed at entire populations, but especially activists; and mobilizing fear for social control. Special police techniques have even been developed and applied in order to specifically suppress dissent and manage protests, especially in the wake of the rising anti-globalization movements towards the turn of the millennium. Preempting Dissent provides a quick overview of how some of this logic developed, as well as a glimpse of how political protest in the West has been shaped and controlled in the “post-9/11″ years, up to and including the so-called Occupy movement. By provoking a reflection of the implications of the logic of the “War on Terror” and how its applied to stifle political protest, Preempting Dissent aims to lay some of the groundwork to develop more effective resistance tactics.

UC Berkeley Student Gov Pass Resolution Banning Urban Shield Trainings

February 27, 2016 Sydney Johnson, www.eastbayexpress.com , ,
By Sydney Johnson for East Bay Express - The Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) approved aresolution Wednesday night that recommends banning the University of California Police Department (UCPD) from taking part in highly militarized Urban Shield trainings. The resolution, which was passed unanimously by the ASUC Senate, called for the “cessation of UCPD participation in, and funding for participation in, Urban Shield competitions, vendor expos, and seminars.”

Book Review: The Militarization Of Policing

January 24, 2016 Greg Albo, www.socialistproject.ca , , ,
By Greg Albo for The Bullet. After the killing of Michael Brown in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri in the late summer of 2014, protests erupted, and the Black Lives Matter spread across North America to protest police violence, too often systematically directed at poor and racialized communities. The massive police presence at these protests, with weapons and armoured vehicles that looked and felt like major military deployments, made it clear to all that something fundamental had taken place in policing practices and strategies. The intensification and extension of the coercive and security branches of the state was well-known since the declaration of the ‘war on terror’ in 2001, and the subsequent leaks of official documents by Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning and others.

Meet The NYPD’s Specially Trained Protest Police

December 21, 2015 Scott Heins, www.gothamist.com , ,
By Scott Heins for Gothamist. Heavily-armored and standing at rapt attention, over a hundred members of the NYPD's newly-rebuilt Strategic Response Group conducted drills on Randall's Island Wednesday as Commissioner Bill Bratton and other top brass looked on. Officers conducted maneuvers in unison on an expanse of empty blacktop and also donned hazmat suits to demonstrate bomb detection technology, all of which are key elements of the department's accelerated anti-terrorism efforts. The SRG has already been deployed to suppress multiple Black Lives Matter protests in the past year and on multiple occasions police have used a military-grade LRAD noise cannon and aggressive arrest tactics against demonstrators, as well as members of the press. Early this year, facing outcry over the conflation of terrorism and constitutionally protected protests, Chief O'Neill pledged to separate the functions and not use the Group to police demonstrations, but the department evidently never followed through on that. "SRG seems to be the unit assigned to police protests throughout all of NYC, which is extremely problematic," activist and writer Keegan Stephan told Gothamist via email.

The Logic Of The Police State

December 21, 2015 Matthew Harwood, www.tomdispatch.com ,
By Matthew Harwood for Tom Dispatch. What is taking place and what the police and their supporters are largely reacting to is a modest push for sensible law enforcement reforms from groups as diverse as Campaign Zero, Koch Industries, the Cato Institute, The Leadership Conference, and the ACLU (my employer). Unfortunately, as the rhetoric ratchets up, many police agencies and organizations are increasingly resistant to any reforms, forgetting whom they serve and ignoring constitutional limits on what they can do. Indeed, a closer look at law enforcement arguments against commonsense reforms like independently investigating police violence, demilitarizing police forces, or ending “for-profit policing” reveals a striking disregard for concerns of just about any sort when it comes to brutality and abuse. What this “debate” has revealed, in fact, is a mainstream policing mindset ready to manufacture fear without evidence and promote the belief that American civil rights and liberties are actually an impediment to public safety. In the end, such law enforcement arguments subvert the very idea that the police are there to serve the community and should be under civilian control. And that, when you come right down to it, is the logic of the police state.

Urban Shield Battles Continue

December 19, 2015 LaborSolidarityCommittee, www.occupyoakland.org ,
By LaborSolidarityCommittee for Occupy Oakland - The latest fight against Urban Shield and the militarization of police took place in Berkeley over the past few months. Members of the Stop Urban Shield Coalition joined Berkeley Copwatch and theOakland Privacy Working Group in attempting to get Berkeley to stop sending police to Urban Shield training exercises for at least next year (2016). They failed, but in doing so publicized the role Urban Shield plays in the militarization of local police, and the racist and gun-worshiping auras that hang over the entire Urban Shield operation.

New Limits On Police Use Of Military Equipment

May 19, 2015 Julia Edwards, www.reuters.com , ,
President Barack Obama on Monday banned police departments from using certain military hardware and restricted the use of riot shields and other equipment, following unrest in U.S. cities over the deaths of black men at the hands of police officers. Obama announced the steps, which are the result of an executive order, during a visit to Camden, New Jersey, where he pushed efforts to encourage trust-building between police and the communities they serve. "We've seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people the feeling like there's an occupied force, as opposed to a force that is part of that community it is protecting and serving," Obama said in a speech at a community center in Camden, a city plagued by high rates of poverty and crime.

The United States Erupts For Justice

December 4, 2014 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org , , , , ,
Across the United States people took to the streets in response to the Staten Island grand jury decision in the Eric Garner killing. The second grand jury to refuse to indict a police officer who killed an unarmed African American, along with the killing of 12 year old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, has led to protests throughout the United States. These protests have been building for many years as the killing of African Americans and abusive relations between police and citizens has become all too common. Watching the corporate mass media tonight often seemed like watching Global Revolution Live. Live video from multiple sites in New York City, Washington, D.C., Boston, Cleveland, Chicago . . . of people shutting down roadways, bridges, tunnels, subways and demonstrating their opposition to police abuse. Under hashtags #EnoughIsEnough, #ThisStopsToday and #BlackLivesMatter expressed the desire for transformative change in the behavior of US police, the relationship between police and people and an end to racist, militarized policing. It is good to see the mass media finally reporting on the deeply rooted problem of abusive policing but the explosion seen today has been building for years.

Ferguson Actions Grow: Monday-Walk-Out At 1:01 Eastern

November 30, 2014 Staff, www.fergusonaction.com , ,
Droves of people across the country are stepping off the sidelines and into the fight for justice. Right now, in houses of worship across the country, hundreds of faith leaders are delivering #ACallToResist to their parishioners. Ferguson Hands Up Walk Out Our momentum is building and this is just the beginning. Tomorrow we urge you to join thousands of others and walk out of EVERYTHING-- jobs, campuses, and schools-- at 1:01 PM EST, 10:01 AM PST, the time Mike Brown Jr. was gunned down by police officer Darren Wilson. Congregate with others, remember their lives and honor them by working to end state violence. Visit fergusonaction.com to find a walkout action near you.

Did Police Set Autos On Fire During Ferguson Protests?

November 30, 2014 Che Lank, www.youtube.com , ,
This video captures images worthy of investigation. The video seems to show military-clad police setting fire to a car outside of auto parts store. The store and the one next to it burned down. In other videos where fires were started or stores had windows broken you can hear protesters saying 'leave that store alone' or 'don't start a fire'. We know organizers in Ferguson trained 600 people in nonviolent resistance tactics. Burning cars and looting building is not part of that training, indeed typically people are taught that the idea is to grow the movement into a larger movement and that looting and rioting is counterproductive. We are not saying that all the fires were started by police, but this one raises questions that deserve investigation -- were other fires started by police?

We Are Tired Of Supporting Militarized Police At Home & Abroad

November 29, 2014 Staff, www.ustired2.com , , , ,
The #USTired2 Campaign Demonstrates How The Us Is Not Only Supporting Militarized Police In Ferguson and Across the United States, but Around The World As Well. This December 7th Join In Protested the Killing of 43 Students In Mexico, a Crime in Which the US is Complicit For many in these United States, images of mass graves in Mexico or stories like that of the 43 missing Normalista students of Ayotzinapa are disturbing, but far away. For others of us, Mexico is not just a “foreign policy issue.” Mexico es familia. Inspired by our friends, family and loved ones in Mexico, #UStired2 is a nationwide effort involving students, local Mexican and Latino and other communities, immigrant rights activists, religious organizations, concerned scholars and many others from across the entire United States. Our effort has one goal: working in the United States to promote peace as an alternative to the catastrophically failed drug war that has left more than 100,000 dead and 25,000 people disappeared in Mexico. More than 43 cities in the United States—one for each student disappeared in Ayotzinapa—have joined our effort—all in less than a week after the call to action was made.

Inside Urban Shield – The Video!

October 18, 2014 Occupy Oakland, www.occupyoakland.org , ,
It was to be expected, I suppose. Three Oakland police units, having nothing better to do on a Friday evening in a town where no one ever complains about crime, showed up before the Inside Urban Shield forum on the militarization of police, ostensibly to inquire into whether a gathering convened expressly to listen to speakers in an auditorium was getting ready to hella march. Fortunately, they must have gotten an emergency call for donut delivery, as they eventually left some eighty odd of us attendees to listen to excellent talks by Shane Bauer, Joshua Smith, Susan Harman and Julia Wong. Here is a video of the four speakers, with the time each begins listed, and some excerpts below...
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