Deviation Actions
Description
This is about police militarization. I assume naked people get attention, even overweight, middle-aged, male naked people. Perhaps this will start a new meme (but if you participate, watch out for your social-network site’s terms of service). Perhaps this is a lonely post that won't even be read. But here it is anyway.
I'm all for mutual respect between law-abiding citizen and law-enforcing policemen who are also law-abiding themselves. But I oppose the way that a "war on drugs" and a "war on terror" have become more and more non-metaphorical wars. Even criminals, and especially non-violent ones, have the right not to be treated like battlefield combatants -- let alone peacefully protesting civilians, journalists doing their constitutionally protected jobs, and private citizens who happen to share a name, a description, a neighborhood, a house, a skin color with alleged lawbreakers.
• Here's what you can do as a citizen besides post online (these all contain Ferguson-specific tips, but are useful more generally):
- www.damemagazine.com/2014/08/1…
- www.alternet.org/news-amp-poli…
- m.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/2…
• Sign an ACLU-sponsored petition to ask the Federal government to stop giving military equipment to police for use against citizens:
www.aclu.org/secure/communitie…
• In case you can't stand the ACLU, here's Rand Paul's call for the same, and an on-topic Libertarian Party press release:
- time.com/3111474/rand-paul-fer…
- www.lp.org/news/press-releases…
• Here's an article in the Economist from this spring on misuse of SWAT teams against non-violent offenders (even when they DO get the right house):
www.economist.com/news/united-…
• Live in Massachusetts? You may wish to contact your representatives or city governments about the fact that many SWAT teams in the state avoid public accountability and transparency by claiming a semi-private status:
www.washingtonpost.com/news/th…
