Show #72 - Para-military Police State: U.S. cops out of control?

Niall

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Sunday June 29th 2014 - Para-military Police State: U.S. cops out of control?

From the beating of Rodney King to the murder of Kelly Thomas, police tactics in the U.S. have become so heavy-handed that people are regularly being murdered by those ostensibly sworn ‘to protect and to serve’ them.

The para-militarization of police forces – particularly since 9/11, the steady erosion of civil rights via draconian laws, and an atmosphere of hysteria generated by the ‘War on Terror’ have all combined to place the police ‘above the law’.

But tyrannical and dictatorial repression is what ‘those other countries’ do, right? Why is it, then, that we constantly see headlines of people in the U.S. being beaten, tasered, and even shot to death for such minor infringements as traffic violations? Are cops ‘out of control’? Are they ‘just obeying orders’?

This week we’re going to take a look at police brutality in the ‘land of the free’. We're live from 2-4pm EST (11am-1pm PST, 8-10pm CET).
 
Looking forward to it. Yeah, having grown up in the U.S., there's was already a problem with the police in past decades, but it's gone completely out of control now it seems. Glad I got the heck out of the U.S.
 
That's a great topic!

It seems to me that these cops are totally out of control. In my book they don't even look human anymore. Big arms, legs, belly and bald head. This look is even scarier than their militarised look, OSIT.
The way they treat the elderly, kids, animals, deaf, blind and homeless people seriously makes me wonder whether they have human feelings at all. It doesn't seem that way to me. They really act like drones, as if someone pushes a button and there they come flying, being let loose on the innocent population. It is nerve-wracking and sickening IMO.
 
My faith in policing has always been relatively low, so in some ways seeing the daily videos of police brutality does seem to me just like the obvious progression of what happens when you give power over to an institution. That has been shown to be just another clique of indoctrinated, uneducated, closeminded beings willing to forgo any idea of morality either to protect themselves or their 'partners'. That said, i can see the potential value and purpose of those who are supposed to 'serve and protect', though have never experienced it for myself! Actually quite the opposite...

It would be interesting to hear about the progression, initial purpose and any speculation as to how/why it has become what it is today.

Moreover, in the UK we have the PCSO (police constable support office?) who are sworn to no-one (except the constables they assist) and are essentially the beginning of a oath-less private police force/army, as are the 'youth cadets' 13yrs old + that are to wander the streets pulling up adults on misdemeanors.. (_http://www.youthunited.org.uk/news/latest/post/14--new-volunteer-police-cadets-in-manchester-)

And i can't help but ponder there must be some other influences operating at a level not known to the participants. Considering the outright depravity of some of the behaviour.

The worst i saw recently was the officer who literally choked a woman who took a paracetamol, he throttled her till she spat it out. He really went for her.

Looking forward to the analysis as always!! :D
 
Mariama said:
That's a great topic!

It seems to me that these cops are totally out of control. In my book they don't even look human anymore. Big arms, legs, belly and bald head.

Yes, great topic and one that more Americans should be aware of. It's not until they phone them that they find they are not here to "serve and protect".

My boys and I call these big bald heads "eggheads" and often joke they are produced in a clone factory somewhere, as they kind of look and act alike. I'm looking forward to the show and hope it's slow enough at work that I can listen live!
 
Lilou said:
My boys and I call these big bald heads "eggheads" and often joke they are produced in a clone factory somewhere, as they kind of look and act alike.

Maybe some of them emerging from deep underground bases (former KIA/MIA soldiers from WW2, Korea, Vietnam)... also wandering me-self where the hell from are all those ISIS henchmen popping out in large numbers after their ranks being decimated4 in Syria... I guess that TDARM would be in full operational mode this close to - or already unfolding final countdown...
 
The Police Force is definitely out of control.

‘Sneak & peek’ warrants allow police to secretly enter homes without notice
_http://www.policestateusa.com/2014/sneak-and-peek-warrants/

A little-known police tactic allows cops to covertly enter private residences, perform searches, seize property, and then leave quietly without notifying the homeowner. These searches, affectionately known as “sneak and peek” warrants, have been performed at a rapidly rising rate since 9/11.

Covert Tactics

Sneak and Peek warrants is actuality a more extreme version of the over-used “no-knock” raids that we cover so often. After seeking out a judge’s authorization, police are allowed to secretly break into private property without first announcing themselves or presenting the subject of the search with a signed warrant. Using this variety of warrant, officers intentionally wait until the subject is not present. The operations are performed covertly, and with the intention of masking the fact that any police activity took place.

The entire premise encourages government agents to adopt the tactics of criminals in order to gain access to property: breaking and entering, sneaking around, stealing, and risking a surprise confrontation with an unsuspecting civilian.

Often, the investigators leave the property undisturbed to avoid detection. After taking what they want and/or leaving wiretaps, cameras, or other planted devices, they exit quietly so as not to raise suspicions.

Sometimes, however, the agents literally stage the scenes to resemble robberies — sneak and steal operations. In one 2010 case, federal investigators broke into an Cleveland apartment, collected evidence, and then “trashed the place to make it look like a burglary.”

The feds have used similar tactics when searching vehicles. According to a Department of Justice document, DEA agents used a delayed-notice warrant to literally steal a suspect’s car in March 2004. After following the suspect to a restaurant in Buffalo, NY, one agent “used a duplicate key to enter the vehicle and drive away while other agents spread broken glass in the parking space to create the impression that the vehicle had been stolen.” [1]

The government is supposed to eventually tell the subject that a warrant had been served on them, but that may not happen for months or sometimes more than a year. A report by the Director Director of the Administrative Office (AO) of U.S. Courts found that the period of delay in telling the suspect they had been served a warrant ranged from 1 to 455 days. The most common length of delay was 90 days [2].

Terminology and History

Officially, the government has termed these warrants innocuously as “Delayed-Notice Search Warrants.” Calling the tactics what they are — covert home invasions or “Sneak and Peek” searches — would not be helpful for public relations.

The man that President Obama chose to head the FBI, James Comey, once explained the etymological spin used by the government to present the tactics in a positive light: “We in law enforcement do not call them [sneak and peek warrants]… because it conveys this image that we are looking through your sock drawer while you are taking a nap.” [3]

In private, the government once used a more honest description of the tactic — back when it was not legally recognized. They were quite literally referred to as “black bag jobs” within the FBI, as Bureau domestic intelligence head William Sullivan revealed in a declassified memo dated July 19, 1966:


“We do not obtain authorization for ‘black bag’ jobs from outside the Bureau. Such a technique involves trespass and is clearly illegal; therefore, it would be impossible to obtain any legal sanction for it. Despite this, ‘black bag’ jobs have been used because they represent an invaluable technique in combating subversive activities of a clandestine nature aimed directly at undermining and destroying our nation.” [4]

Mr. Sullivan was clearly aware that the actions were illegal, yet his memo went on to proudly admit that the tactics have been used to destroy political groups operating within the United States.

Governments have certainly been covertly sneaking and spying on their own citizens for all of history. The legal acceptance is the newer, more concerning development.

As law professor Jonathan Witmer-Rich points out, “There is no evidence of judicially-authorized covert searching, through a delayed notice warrant or any similar mechanism, in the history of search and seizure through 1791 [the drafting of the Fourth Amendment].” [6]

The professor also revealed that the first reference to a “Delayed-Notice Search Warrant” did not occur in U.S. case law until 1985 in United States v. Frietas [6].

The constitutionality of covert searches has been challenged in court several times in the modern era, and the searches were always upheld. In Dalia v. United States (1979), the U.S. Supreme Court called the 4th Amendment challenge “frivolous.” Modern courts have followed suit, holding that the tactics pose no Fourth Amendment concerns. And thus signaled the beginning to an era when “black bag” tactics became legitimate.

Although the courts had condoned the formerly dubious warrants, their issuance remained relatively low (at least searches performed on the record). The rarity of the searches changed after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The USA PATRIOT Act laid out a national standard for using Sneak & Peek tactics, and the floodgates began to open for their widespread usage.

Before the USA PATRIOT Act, only two federal circuits had ever acknowledged the practice of Delayed-Notice Search Warrants [6].

Title 18, Section 3103a provides that for any federal search warrant, “any notice required… may be delayed if… the court finds reasonable cause to believe that providing immediate notification of the execution of the warrant may have an adverse result.”

According to research done by Professor Witmer-Rich, there were only 25 DSW’s issued in 2002, and in a decade, that number had grown to 5,601 DSW’s issued in 2012 [6]. In fact, sneak and peek search warrants now constitute about 10% of all warrants served by the federal government [5].

Evidence shows that judges are rarely rejecting these warrants. Data in a U.S. Courts Administrative Office report shows that there was a 0.7% chance of a judge denying a request for a sneak and peek warrant in 2010. Out of 2,395 total DSW requests, only 16 were rejected [2].

Institutionalized Injustice

The use of these tactics opens the doors for numerous problems, corruption, and unintended consequences.

Secret searches not only reduce/eliminate the privacy and freedom of those targeted in the investigation — who are legally innocent until proven guilty — but also spurs an insecurity within the entire community. As Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor noted in a 2012 case regarding secret GPS tracking, “awareness that the Government may be watching chills associational and expressive freedoms.”

Another glaring problem is the risk of having police officers barging in on unsuspecting people. Despite investigators’ best efforts to avoid contact, a sneak and peek search could easily be performed while a subject or family member is still present in the house. When the police enter without notice, they will appear indistinguishable from criminal home invaders. Violent confrontations may arise, as they often do with the use of standard “no-knock” warrants.

It is also worth noting that clandestine “black bag jobs” are a perfect working environment for corrupt government agents. If their objective is to stage a robbery, they can quite literally steal property for their own benefit and never report it to the courts. Pocketing cash and valuables would be quite easy for state-sanctioned burglars operating without any witnesses. Officers also have a practically unchecked ability to plant evidence and incriminate the subject.

Indeed, the secrecy and lack of witnesses in these situations makes it incredibly difficult to hold the police accountable for any wrongdoing that might occur.


The problem of Sneak and Peek warrants has been institutionalized by the legislature, and it must be reversed there as well. The courts are unlikely to go against the precedents that have already been established. If clandestine police tactics are of concern to the public, the people must spur a legal change and push back on these advanced state powers.
 
I recalled this SOTT article that relates to the show. There does seem to be a correlation of sorts as increased violence by authorities (military and police) is balanced by that committed by groups of citizens, which has to be dealt with and creates a negative feedback loop. When some folk see their government attacking sovereign countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya etc) they can justify their own violent idealogy also, as it gives them "empowerment that emerges when the political system is perceived to be increasingly permissive to far right ideas."


A report published by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point Military Academy on Jan. 15 discusses the potential dangers of "violent far-right" organizations, which has angered some conservatives that believe the military should focus on international threats.

The executive summary of the paper, "Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America's Violent Far-Right," claims that "since 2007, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of attacks and violent plots originating from individuals and groups who self- identify with the far-right of American politics."

Written by Arie Perliger, Director of Terrorism Studies at the Combating Terrorism Center and an Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Sciences at West Point, the paper asserts that three distinct ideologies exist in the "American violent far right." Those are "a racist/white supremacy movement, an anti-federalist movement and a fundamentalist movement," the last of which "includes mainly Christian Identity groins such as the Aryan Nations."

"Findings indicate that...it is not only feelings of deprivation that motivate those involved in far right violence, but also the sense of empowerment that emerges when the political system is perceived to be increasingly permissive to far right ideas," it later reads.

The rise in attacks in the 21st century were significant, as "Although in the 1990s the average number of attacks per year was 70.1, the average number of attacks per year in the first 11 years of the twenty-first century was 307.5, a rise of more than 400%."

http://www.sott.net/article/256668-West-Point-study-on-violent-far-right-shows-dramatic-rise-in-attacks
 
This confirms what you guys pointed out in the show.

_http://rt.com/usa/169848-pentagon-facebook-study-minerva/
 
Just catching up on this missed show, great topic, thanks for the show.

Interesting concerning the roots of policing protecting the corporations like the Rockefeller mine and union busting, as example. Noting has changed now of course, they will do their damnedest to ding someone with a $150.00 seat belt infraction while the downtown broker just forged the signatures of their elderly clients and liquidated their life's savings - no problem for him though, he's protected and will never be investigated, let alone what is deserved: license intact to do it again.

Removing the more educated policemen (likely who is way lower on the RWA scale) presents a policeman who is tuned to wreck havoc on the public at large over minor societal matters, while the real criminals, aka snakes in suites, are supported as they bilk the same public of everything they can with their intrenched "get out of jail free card". For their masters at the top who's corporation just went down to Ecuador and hired murderous mercenaries to clear out the public, they are honored at the policeman's ball. For their masters who might happen to be the local banker, the state governor or their local congressmen, it's no trouble at all to turn their eyes away from the depth and breadth of what they do behind their curtains.

Was reminded of economics and the GDP, which is greatly heightened by the ills of society. In this case, police are assembled and outfitted, they are given more and more laws in which to feed off of, they feed the system courts, who in turn feed the lawyers and administrations, who ultimately feed the jails and all this grows the GDP like a bad cancer. In this respect, like equating oil spill disasters and our quests for military wars being a boon to growing the GDP, which the economists are trumpeting on the 6 O'clock news to be even higher, except, that this does not always equate to societal health, it wrecks it.
 
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