I should have taken a picture. Why didn't I take a picture?
It was a calm Cleveland morning. I had an early coffee date in Tremont at a popular spot, Civilization. Everything was on point: I got a good parking spot, a good cup of coffee and a good table. Being a few minutes early, I pecked at my iPad until my associate arrived.
She did. We chatted and laughed and exchanged Cleveland stories. It was a casual and fun network opportunity between two locals who know this town up one side and down the other.
At about 9 a.m., about half a dozen cops ambled in.
Dear reader, these cops were outfitted in a way I've never seen. They were positively encumbered by their bulletproof vests, which were loaded with god-knows-what, but so much so that they bulged out several inches from their chests. They had pistols strapped to their thighs and some other sort of weapon on their shoulders. At least one of them had the word DEPUTY (or was it SHERIFF?) written across his back. They crowded around a table next to us and commenced a leisurely coffee break.
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| photo by Bob Perkoski |
Why the hell didn't I take a picture? It would have been so easy to discreetly take a picture with my iPad.
At one point, a lady cop stood up and scooted by me in the tight space between our tables, her gun just inches from my head. No, I wasn't afraid. I just thought why the hell do I have to tolerate this broad's gun right by my head while I'm just sitting here having coffee?
The bottom line is that those cops were outfitted for war. They looked like they were headed into Afghanistan instead of out onto Starkweather Avenue. While they sat there casually sipping brew for a half hour, they were clearly dressed to fight a vicious enemy.
Who was the enemy? The barista? Me? The scruffy man outside on the sidewalk? Maybe it's anyone who behaves erratically. I have no idea, but I do know they were armed against Clevelanders.
Now then, someone will surely chime in and say they were armed to protect Clevelanders. Perhaps that is so. Sitting there, however, I felt more perplexed than anything else. Why the hell are these guys sitting in Civilization dressed like combat soldiers?
This is not what neighborhood cops should look like. Ever. And if they were some special team, they should have been out doing their special things and not making a coffee house look like a war zone.
So that was Friday, November 21st. Tamir Rice was shot the next day four and a half miles away after Officer Timothy Loehmann dithered for less than two seconds over whether or not to open fire on him with a gun paid for by Clevelanders.
My Friday and Tamir's Saturday are completely unrelated and completely related. I don't know why, but I know it is so. Maybe you, dear reader, can figure it out for me. In the meantime, all I can do is sigh and invite you to read a touching personal essay about Tamir Rice penned by a former teacher.
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| photo by Bob Perkoski |
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35 comments:
Guardians of the Plutocracy. Image is Everything.
RJ
I was those protesters back in the 1960's, but I can't remember any complaints, then, about a long ride home due to all us jobless, dirty protesters, or how we ruined their Christmas shopping. Does life mean that much less now?
Really ML? Can't remember complaints back then? I can. Back then, or now, it's irritating at a minimum. Besides, most of those protesters are just entertaining themselves. Hunger strike? I'm good with that. Lying down on a freeway, blocking traffic, including emergency vehicles? C'mon man! Besides, isn't the "cool" thing to do is do a hashtag and send out some catchy phrase?
Erin: Do you really consider those hardworking cops, the enemy? Maybe they're doing some first responder training. Your disdain for them is sort of surprising. By the way; the cop who shot that your boy should have never been hired. Cleveland police department totally responsible for a stupid hire. That should cost them millions and the chief should be fired.
@Bill. Those hardworking cops consider US the enemy.
RJ
I'm really hoping you don't believe that.
"I can't breathe."
"I can't breathe."
"I can't breathe."
"I can't breathe."
"I can't breathe."
"I can't breathe."
"I can't breathe."
"I can't breathe."
"I can't breathe."
"I can't breathe."
"I can't breathe."
RJ
Disbelief is a luxury in which too few can indulge.
MR
I do not disdain them. I am just sick of seeing American law enforcement outfitted like combat soldiers. It's wrong.
The enemy? I have no idea why they were all decked out in riot gear, training maybe? I do agree on the combat gear. Most military equipment is not designed or required for the police to do their job. Most police department do not have the budgets or expertise to maintain very expensive equipment. That wow factor MRAP is hard to maintain and replacement parts are expensive not to mention they are so heavy they are prohibited on federal highways without special permits. Police are not trained to be military and the military with few exceptions are not trained to be police.
James Old Guy
Some of you may remember when the Los Angeles police department was out gunned by a gang of bank robbers. They actually had to raid a gun store during the action to obtain equally powerful weapons. A beat cop with a night stick isn't going to cut it. So, if a police force looks too well equipped, that makes the public nervous? Feel bad? What? Much ado about nothing friends. By the way; have you seen the power of some of the drug cartels? Do you want your police force to be able to deal with that? The whole "militarization of the police force" is a press created narrative. That's all it is. A narrative. Don't worry about it.
@Bill.
Fuck You.
RJ
LOL! From "can't breathe" to breathing hard.
I agree with Erin somewhat. The militarization of many police forces is disconcerting. There does seem to be a sort of us vs. them mentality and since I'm not one of "us" I guess I'm a "them". But they are the ones putting themselves between regular citizens and the lawless faction of society and should have every bit of physical protection and firepower necessary to win those confrontations. It's all about quality of personnel, quality of training and increased knowledge of the neighborhoods they serve and protect.
"A member of the St. Louis County Police Department points his weapon in the direction of a group of protesters in Ferguson, Mo., on Wednesday."
That's the caption to this photo.
Probably not what the Founding Fathers had in mind, but what do I know.
Here's the full article for the curious.
Bill, "militarization of the police force" is not just some media slogan. Where I work we some time hand over military equipment to the police and other government agencies. I have spent days explaining to these wanna be seals how to operate some of the items, the ignorance of the people receiving the equipment is amazing. This is one time I agree with Erin.
JOG
Erin: I scanned that article and noticed a couple things. 1) the reporter used a study by some ex cop who's now a professor and one quote is “Many communities now look upon police as an occupying army, their streets more reminiscent of Baghdad or Kabul than a city in America,” Nolan continued. Unless I missed it Nolan didn't give any concrete examples of any of the "many" communities. 2) The congressman that is introducing or has introduced legislation to stop the transfer of military equipment to police departments is, Hank Johnson from Georgia. I didn't take the time to research this but I think he's the guy who explained how he was worried that Guam wouldn't be able to handle the weight of 25,000 soldiers and their equipment and that it might tip over.
huh?
Uh huh.
@ JOG-Thanks for sharing an up-close observation.
I suspect that if more of the public knew in more detail HOW the local constabularies were coming into possession of this sort of weaponry, and the role played by many defense contractors in the process, there would be a far higher level of interest and concern.
MR
Bill, I'm not going to play your games.
Former Bush advisor Matthew Dowd (who is one of the smartest political voices around) nailed it yesterday on ABC's This Week
“We basically dress up officers as if they’re machines,” Dowd said. “And then we expect them to act like human beings. So what happens is, they confuse power with force. Most of the officers in this country do a great job. But when we militarize our police force and dress them up like machines, they act like machines.”
source
Also, the associate I had coffee with that day told me she remembers that the word on their backs was, in fact, MARSHALL.
Maybe someone can shed some light on that.
@ Erin-I'm guessing that Mr "Marshal" is an employee of the federal government. The new Federal Courthouse is just on the other side of the river.
MR
"...role played by many defense contractors in the process"-MR
This.
Metro Police/Nashville has the good fortune of having a couple drones they're using to make Christmas shopping safer this year. HoHoHo.
RJ
The Dowd quote "nails it"? Please. Very weak. But, to my point, it continues the press created narrative.
Ran across this observation on another blog I follow. As best as I can tell the author,Albert Burneko, writes alot about sports and food.
Thought provoking.
"Policing in America is not broken. The judicial system is not broken. American society is not broken. All are functioning perfectly, doing exactly what they have done since before some of this nation’s most prosperous slave-murdering robber-barons came together to consecrate into statehood the mechanisms of their barbarism. Democracy functions. Politicians, deriving their legitimacy from the public, have discerned the will of the people and used it to design and enact policies that carry it out, among them those that govern the allowable levels of violence which state can visit upon citizen. Taken together with the myriad other indignities, thefts, and cruelties it visits upon black and brown people, and the work common white Americans do on its behalf by telling themselves bald fictions of some deep and true America of apple pies, Jesus, and people being neighborly to each other and betrayed by those few and nonrepresentative bad apples with their isolated acts of meanness, the public will demands and enables a whirring and efficient machine that does what it does for the benefit of those who own it. It processes black and brown bodies into white power.
That is what America does. It is not broken. That is exactly what is wrong with it."-Albert Burneko
I found the apple pie comment quite compeling.
RJ
Good evening-
If anyone is interested in getting more information about the roles of the Department of Defense DoD or the Department of Homeland Security in the militarization of law enforcement, the DoD funds and equipment are transferred via a plan called Program 1033. Since its origins in the National Defense Authorization Act in the 1990s somewhat around $5B USD has been transferred, including $450M in 2013 alone.
Since 9/11/01, The Department of Homeland Security has facilitated the transfer of somewhat around $34B USD in cash grants and/or in-kind grants to local and/or municipal departments.
This is the Congressman who is pushing legislation to stop the transfer from military to cops
Rep. Johnson has a health condition which, among other things, sometimes impedes the sufferer's speech and ability to focus and/or concentrate.
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The Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act is co-sponsored by Congressman Raoul Labrador (R-Id.) and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK). So far as I can determine, neither one has said anything goofy about Guam.
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The Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act would, among other things, end transfers of the most egregiously aggressive equipment (Armored vehicles, drones, automatic weapons,) and others. It calls for SecDef to certify that recipients are eligible, and to certify that previously transferred equipment is accounted for.
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Like I said, there's some other stuff in there too, but for the purposes of this conversation that's the heart of the thing.
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And it all seems pretty reasonable. Common-sense stuff. Modest controls. So obviously, it's doomed.
MR
MR
I don't recall Guam capsizing either. Seems to me the fellow did some good.
BTW, that Youtube page might as well have been titled "Talking while black" or "Talking while liberal" or the particularly damning "Talking while black and liberal." Of course given the slime crawling out of the gutter to dispute the upcoming torture report I shouldn't be too hard on the ad hominems. Might indulge myself in a couple soon.
RJ
Why do libs always want to bring up skin color? Talking while stupid and liberal is a better title. However, it doesn't seem to matter. I think this lib was re elected after this. Go figure.
Hear, hear...err here, here?
Too many people try to hide behind their skin color as a crutch or an alibi or an excuse. It's just wrong.
WAYYYYY too many white cops seem to believe their pasty pigmentation shields them from consequences.
#pastypigmentationjustice #newwaystotrashcops
NORTH HOLLYWOOD SHOOTOUT:
That shootout lasted for 44 minutes not because of the power of the weapons per se the robbers carried but because of the body armor they wore. Thankfully, there were no further fatalities among the eighteen policemen and civilians also wounded.
MR
We might need that military attire and equipment afterall. RE: France under attack.
Let's hope those militarized cops having breakfast in Cleveland won't need to be activated. But, as has recently been demonstrated in Paris, you just never know when some crazy journalist or cartoonist will offend someone and all hell breaks loose. Let's keep that equipment around, just in case.
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