Comments on: Who Curb-stomped Officer Friendly?

By: Barnabas

Barnabas — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 17:38:48 +0000

By “weaponized populace ” I assume he means not an armed populace but a dangerous rabble maintained as a voting block and an ever ready means of violence against your enemies.

By: fnn

fnn — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 12:40:50 +0000

Militarized police in Preston, Idaho:

http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2013/10/pedro-offers-you-his-protection-preston.html

By: Gordian

Gordian — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 14:28:31 +0000

You misunderstand. I don’t have a problem with heavily armed police in the city, where they are needed. I object to the narrative that law-abiding, rural, gun-owners contribute in any way to the problem. The problem is the city, and will remain the city whether or not the city-dwellers are armed or unarmed. Cities breed vice, corruption, violence, and evil. An armed population in the country breeds law and order. Look at the difference between St. Bernard and Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. One had an armed impromptu citizen-militia protecting property. The other had street battles with the National Guard.

By: slumlord

slumlord — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 02:08:13 +0000

@Gordian

I don’t like Mangan much but he’s on the ball with this post.

http://mangans.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/defending-militarization-of-police.html

Coppers have a right to go home alive. I don’t particularly care that they’ve got itchy trigger fingers or that they come to the party with more than enough artillery. People need to operate within the law and have a fair amount of respect for it, What’s really disconcerting about the current “conservative” opposition to police firepower is the subtle shift in perception with regard to the role of the police.

When did they become the bad guys?

The stench of libertarianism is everywhere these days.

By: Gordian

Gordian — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 21:15:33 +0000

Slumlord –

Absolutely wrong. An armed populace is no problem if it is culturally homogenous, rural, and traditionally law-abiding. The police in rural America are not and do not need to be militarized. They’re only militarized in the cities, despite a lower rate of gun ownership in the cities than in the country. The cities are the problem, not the guns.

By: Mark Yuray

Mark Yuray — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 01:56:35 +0000

Yep. Balkan police are pretty underwhelming. There is a militarized Gendarme for controlling hooligan riots, but they’re rare. I have, many times, walked for several hours across the whole of Belgrade at 3 in the morning, drunk and taking frequent stops to sit down on the side of the street. Nobody ever messed with me. Could I do the same in New York, Baltimore, Detroit, DC, Philadelphia, LA?

By: slumlord

slumlord — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 21:41:30 +0000

A weaponised populace can only be only policed by a weaponised police and I don’t think this is a police problem as much as an American cultural problem.

The former Yugoslavia has lots of nasty weapons still in the hands of the people. The coppers there don’t ride around in APC’s. I felt safer there than in some of the less salubrious areas of New York.

By: brierrabbit

brierrabbit — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 13:48:57 +0000

i think most people are thinking of the small town local sheriff, like Andy of mayberry. Urban police were really never like that tv cop. Small town sheriffs often were because they were elected, tended to know everybody in the county, and used their knowledge of folks personalities to keep the peace. however, in places with moonshining, along the border, etc, its always been a job where the sheriff or police could get out of hand. The show Dukes of Hazzard, thouigh an great exaggeration, was based on a true stereotype. I grew up near Tombstone Arizona. The sheriff there occupied the same position as Sheriff Behan, Wyatt Earps rival. He stole Behans girlfriend, horned in several of the towns gambiling rackets. etc. He was not an Andy of Mayberry. The recent sheriff that I knew, was a decent man, but you did not get cute with him. He knew darn well, if he was wrong, or dumb, he could end up lying dead in some arroyo, or canyon, like so many others over the last 500 years, and no one would know what happened to him. The thing that fascinates me, is that the american sheriff is a small piece of medieval england that has survived into modern times. It means “shire reeve” in old english. Modern sheriffs are elected, not appointed by the king, but their jobs are just like the first Anglo-saxon sheriffs in the 9th centuries jobs were like. They dealt with livestock rustling, evictions, troublemakers etc. Same job essentially. By the way, great blog and writing.

By: Who Curb-stomped Officer Friendly? | Reaction Times

Who Curb-stomped Officer Friendly? | Reaction Times — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 00:38:25 +0000

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