Is America a Police state?

[doppelganger]

It's been headed that way for a while. There's never been an historical example of a people keeping a large standing military and it working out well for them.

 

[Revoltingest]

It's been headed that way for a while. There's never been an historical example of a people keeping a large standing military and it working out well for them.

Our large standing army doesn't create a police state...except perhaps for those countries the army occupies.
No, our problem is an authoritarian government & cops with too little accountability. The army is just a big tax burden.

 

[doppelganger]

Our large standing army doesn't create a police state...except perhaps for those countries the army occupies.
No, our problem is an authoritarian government & cops with too little accountability. The army is just a big tax burden.

If it becomes an actual police state, it will be the military, not municipal and local law enforcement. Historically, police states occur when the military takes command of civil affairs. That's why we are not in a police state right now.

 

[Revoltingest]

If it becomes an actual police state, it will be the military, not municipal and local law enforcement. Historically, police states occur when the military takes command of civil affairs. That's why we are not in a police state right now.

Perhaps we're breaking new ground to get around that inconvenient Posse Comitatus Act.

 

[doppelganger]

It has been a lot closer to a police state in the past than it is right now. When Lincoln suspended the writ of habeus corpus during the Civil War, when the government was instituting internment camps after Pearl Harbor, when the U.S. was conducting "Operation Wetback" along the Mexican border and when it was careening into the "Red Scare" during McCarthyism, this country was further along the road to a police state than it is right now.

 

[Revoltingest]

It has been a lot closer to a police state in the past than it is right now. When Lincoln suspended the writ of habeus corpus during the Civil War, when the government was instituting internment camps after Pearl Harbor, when the U.S. was conducting "Operation Wetback" along the Mexican border and when it was careening into the "Red Scare" during McCarthyism, this country was further along the road to a police state than it is right now.

I plead ignorance about whether it's getting better or worse. Some things improve...we've ditched internment camps McCarthyism....but
we're facing cops with cameras in the sky & on the street corner...an internet kill switch...erosion of 5th Amendment property rights...multiple
attempts at warrantless search & seizure...all financial transactions becoming monitored...etc,etc, etc.

 

[doppelganger]

The tools to accomplish it are much improved (we are close to the kind of invasive technology imagined by Orwell), but what is actually going on right now on such a scale as McCarthyism or the internment camps ? Though I agree, the potential to be far, far worse than anything we've seen before is now there. And it's particularly disturbing given the merger of government with multinational business interests in the last century.

 

[Apex]

If it becomes an actual police state, it will be the military, not municipal and local law enforcement. Historically, police states occur when the military takes command of civil affairs. That's why we are not in a police state right now.

Have you ever been in the military?

 

[Gunfingers]

Perhaps we're breaking new ground to get around that inconvenient Posse Comitatus Act.

Interestingly, Posse Comitatus only applies to the federal military. The National Guard is not impacted as long as they're operating under their state mission. That's why they can respond during national disasters and riots.

 

[bobhikes]

With all the layoff's we may not have to worry much more.

 

[Twilight Hue]

If it becomes an actual police state, it will be the military, not municipal and local law enforcement. Historically, police states occur when the military takes command of civil affairs. That's why we are not in a police state right now.

Before long, you actually wont be able tell the difference between a cop and a soldier with all the combat gear and weaponry they possess now.
Long going out of style is the traditional shirt, sidearm, and the badge, slowly being replaced by kevlar helmets, fully automatic assault weapons, and bulletproof armor.

 

[Gunfingers]

Where do you live that that's a thing? I've never seen police carrying any of that outside of a riot or other serious contingency. I mean, i'm sure that police HAVE a rifle/shotgun and some other gear in their car, but i've never seen one use it.

 

[Dezzie]

I believe it is.

I believe that America is a Police State as well. The Police Force is getting way out of control. My father was a police officer for years. He recently left the force because he could take it anymore (he was also moving). Right now he is actually trying to get a job as a Deputy Sheriff in Arizona. I guess Arizona laws are better and he agree with them more.

I've noticed so many Police Officer's around my Navy base. I swear they are growing in number like crazy and they don't eff around. They are very strict. They just put this law out that no one can run outside on base with headphones on... even if there is a side walk. So stupid. The Police Force really is bad... and these Police Officer's are so stupid to realize how ridiculous they are being.

 

[Revoltingest]

Where do you live that that's a thing? I've never seen police carrying any of that outside of a riot or other serious contingency. I mean, i'm sure that police HAVE a rifle/shotgun and some other gear in their car, but i've never seen one use it.

It happens regularly when they conduct raids. I once had a tenant who operated a pharmacy. One day, the cops decided to burst
into the store with black clad machine gun wielding profanity shouting thugs. Over-zealousness combined with misunderstanding
caused a whole lotta weepy women & scared owners.

 

[Starsoul]

It is so, in so many cases, Like this student who was framed , searched and imprisoned for fake charges against him.

Saif had been added to a US terror watch list around March 2010 for reasons undisclosed and has since been charged with possessing explosives.
It is claimed that traces of TNT and tetryl were found on his cell phone and documents at the embassy, and that traces of tetryl were found on seven items of clothing, including a necktie, a small suitcase, and on a laptop.

These charges seem somewhat dubious for a number of reasons.

First of all, Saif has made it clear that when he was at the embassy a bomb sniffing dog was so uninterested in his bad that it appeared to fall asleep.

Secondly, while traces of explosives were allegedly found on his cell phone and documents that he took to the embassy, there was none whatsoever on his hands which surely raises the question of how the traces were transferred to the phone and documents which were confiscated from him.

Thirdly, not only were the two searches of Saif’s residence carried out in complete disregard for the law and thus unreliable, but the first search conducted by the Chilean police came back negative. How is it that the second search conducted by the Secret police resulted in the finding of traces of tetryl on several items within the home? Is it possible that so many contaminated items could have been missed in the first search?

Cageprisoners : Muhammad Saif-ur-Rehman Khan

 

[Revoltingest]

It is so, in so many cases, Like this student who was framed , searched and imprisoned for fake charges against him.

It's a problem that cops have so much ability to do things to us without charging us for a crime.

 

[Primordial Annihilator]

It's a problem that cops have so much ability to do things to us without charging us for a crime.

Once the cops become the Law then you will have problems.

Their duty is to their city/region and it's people, upholding it's laws fairly and responsibly, under the jurisdiction of the justice system, not the regime at large...

 

[Songbird]

I was arrested once for recording a conversation with a police officer without notification.

It's "somewhat" illegal to record anyone without notifying the person being recorded, not just a police officer. It depends on the expectation of privacy, among other things, and the laws vary from state to state. It may be easy to jump to the conclusion that police are trying to take away rights by claiming that recording is illegal, but the laws are detailed, confusing, and often changing. It's hard for even police to decide legality in situ.

I just googled the legality of recording police, and I don't have time to find definitive answers, but it seems it's largely very legal to record police. Publishing the recordings on YouTube is another matter.

In a semi-related note, this discussion made me think of the Stanford Prison Experiment. An excerpt:

"What happens when you put good people in an evil place? Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph? These are some of the questions we posed in this dramatic simulation of prison life conducted in the summer of 1971 at Stanford University. "

"Our planned two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be ended prematurely after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated. In only a few days, our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress."

Basically, roles foisted on us determine our behavior. Of course, in authority situations, measures need to be taken to prevent abuse.

 

[Revoltingest]

Everything is being criminalized....as the authorities ignore actual criminal behavior....
Plastic pellet incident at Va. school ends in expulsion, assault charges

 

[Songbird]

Everything is being criminalized....as the authorities ignore actual criminal behavior....
Plastic pellet incident at Va. school ends in expulsion, assault charges

Dangerous little fella. Plastic pellet projectile devices are gate-way weapons. Every cruel dictator can trace his path to WMD from tiny plastic pellets shot in glee at fellow students and possibly teachers.