YouthSpeaksOut! is a one hour public affairs show in Mendocino County, California. Hosted by high school students and produced by Dan Roberts
"This Sunday at 3pm on YouthSpeaksOut! we will discuss the militarization of the police. We have all heard stories of unarmed youth being shot to death by police, several occurring in Santa Rosa. We all saw images of police in military garb from Ferguson. Are we entering into a "police state"? This will be a call-in show. That s YouthSpeaksOut! this Sunday at 3pm."
Today our topic is The Militarization of the Police. Most people have seen images of the confrontations between police and protestors in Ferguson, Missouri, following the murder of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18 year old. The police are in military garb, with assault rifles, camouflage, and armored vehicles. The pictures are reminiscent of ones from Afghanistan. But instead of Afghani civilians, the protestors are American civilians. If you look at photos from the various Occupy protests from 2011 you can see similar confrontations between civilians and what appear to be military police. Go back to the WTO demonstrations in Seattle in 1999 and you will see police in riot gear with batons, rubber bullet shotguns, and tear gas going after demonstrators- but no one is in camouflage and there are no assault rifles. The outfits are police riot gear, a style that evolved from the formation of SWAT teams developed in the 1960s. SWAT is an acronym for Special Weapons And Tactics. The most famed early SWAT team was a platoon created by LAPD Chief Darryl Gates in 1967, and he used the term SWAT to stand for Special Weapons Assault Team, but later changed it because it sounded too militaristic. The first Los Angeles SWAT team was intended to respond to and manage critical situations involving shootings while minimizing police casualties. Their first confrontation was with Black Panthers in 1969. In 1974 there was live TV coverage of the team converging on 6 members of the Symbionese Liberation Army who all died when the house they were hiding in burned to the ground- no police were injured. In the 1980s SWAT teams were mainly used for drug raids, justified by Richard Nixon s call for a War On Drugs - nationally there were 3000 SWAT raids per year in the 80s. Last year there were 50,000 SWAT team raids, with 62% employed in drug raids. Over the past 30 years various incarnations of law enforcement agencies, (like Camp, Commet, the DEA, and the Department of Justice), have raided homes and land in our area to seize marijuana. Most raids involve a warrant and result in the destruction of crops and no arrests. Frequently personal property is seized or destroyed. Until marijuana is fully legalized in California, these sort of raids will continue. Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman made several attempts to provide a legitimate method for people to grow medical marijuana for state approved dispensaries. The federal government followed with several high-profile raids in this county to reverse the Sheriff s experiment in rational marijuana production. Over 500,000 Californians have medical cards allowing them to use cannabis. In the past month numerous marijuana grows in the Laytonville area were destroyed by unidentified armed men descending from helicopters without search warrants. We want to thank Kerry Reynolds and the KMUD news team for permission to air this segment of last Wednesday s newscast-
We again want to thank Kerry Reynolds and the KMUD news team for that report. The term police state is defined as a totalitarian state controlled by a political police force that secretly supervises the citizens activities. Like Sheriff Allman stated, we are not currently living in a police state, but the activities reported are getting close to the definition. The murder of unarmed Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri policeman has brought national (and international) attention to the militarization of civilian police forces. The militarization of policing encourages officers to adopt a warrior mentality and think of the people they are supposed to serve as enemies. Radley Balko has written a book on the topic called Rise of the Warrior Cop, where he describes the problem and points out the challenges to a large-scale reform. Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper has just published Breaking Rank: A Top Cop s Expose Of The Dark Side Of American Policing. Stamper has called his orders to gas non-violent protestors the worst mistake of his career. Senator Claire McCaskill is holding a meeting next Tuesday on the Militarization of police, questioning the Department of Defense program which supplies military equipment to local law enforcement agencies. A few cities in California are returning tanks because of the public perception that they have become the enemy. The American Civil Liberties Union has posted at their website a report called The War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization Of American Policing. We will discuss the findings in this report. Everyone agrees that deadly police force is occasionally required for public safety. In March of this year a man fleeing a murder in Oregon was chased into the Mendocino coast and ended up killing Mendocino County Sheriff Ricky Del Fiorentino, a tragic loss of a brave warrior to our community. The perpetrator was shot dead by a Fort Bragg police lieutenant. And in 2011 our county saw a disturbed young man from Fort Bragg ambush and fatally kill Jere Melo. A 5 week manhunt ensued before a sniper brought down Aaron Bassler. Clearly we need police who can respond in life-threatening situations. The question in the Michael Brown case is when are the police in a life-threatening situation? And if the public protests in Ferguson, Missouri, should the police dress up in military garb and aim military weapons at citizens. Similar events happened in Oakland after unarmed Oscar Grant was killed by BART police while laying face down on the ground. And the demonstrations that ensued saw a massive, military-style response by police. Closer to home, last October saw a Sonoma County Sheriff gunned down a 13 year old boy, Andy Lopez, who was carrying a replica gun. Numerous protests in Santa Rosa have been met with police with assault rifles trained on the citizens marching to City Hall. We would also like to discuss why, when police shoot suspects to disarm them, do they shoot to kill rather than to disable them? We realize that we are bringing many topics to this discussion and that there will be differing views on these subjects. As we approach adulthood, we would like to know that our liberties are respected, and not worry that we will appear as an enemy to law enforcement. We are going to express our knowledge and opinions about how the future looks. And then in 20 minutes or so we will ask you to call in and join the discussion at 456-9991. We host this program to increase understanding between all the age groups in our community, and all the different perspectives. And despite our diversity, we are all heading into a similar future. So let s begin by going around and describe any reactions we had to the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguon, Missouri, and the protests afterwards..
****************************************** We re going to open the phone lines now. The phone number is 707 456-9991. Everyone is welcome to call, and we d especially like to encourage the youth, their parents, teachers, and concerned friends in the listening audience. Please call in if you have questions or insights about the militarization of police. Do you think that the police in our community, or in America in general, have taken the military style and mindset too far? When you hear a report of an unarmed suspect murdered by police, do you wonder why they didn t just shoot him in the leg or arm? Do you believe that as long as you never break any laws that you are safe from police harassment? If you are white, do you think things would be different if you were hispanic, black, or native american? Please call in and be part of this conversation.
![<?php echo $config['site_title']; ?>](/static/images/rp-navimg.gif)
![Support the <?php echo $config['site_title']; ?>](/static/images/support.png)
