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Comment by idlewords | Hacker News Reader

It's striking in the photos coming out of Ferguson to see municipal police in full military gear. They have even brought out armored vehicles, and there are multiple reports of police pointing automatic weapons at journalists and protestors. These cops seem out of their depth. They should not have access to this kind of firepower.

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The Atlantic had a good (if somewhat understated) article on the phenomenon of militarizing police back in 2011 that's worth a re-read in the current context: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/11/how-the-...

EDIT: And a excerpt from the book "Rise of the Warrior Cop" from last summer: http://www.salon.com/2013/07/07/%E2%80%9Cwhy_did_you_shoot_m...

And Slate has a current piece on the phenomenon specifically in reference to Ferguson: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/201...

This is my 'favorite' picture so far.. I can't even imagine what's going through this kid's head.

http://i.imgur.com/YBPeneA.jpg

Or through the head of the goons.

Here's one that doesn't crop out the graffiti on the mailbox:

http://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/36894460/...

and the amazing discordant 'reaction' by the police, armed with a variety of fringe all provided no doubt by the US military which probably had an excess.

Granted, the graffiti seems like an important element of the picture.

But when the reaction of the police to spraying "Fuck the police" on a mailbox is that six of them charge you with rifles aimed at you, that seems like a pretty clear justification of the sentiment.

I bet the cop on the second left is such an asshole he is punished with the camera on the helmet.

Can he hear what they're ordering him to do through the gas masks?

Police: "Umff flumfff urgffff fruffu hufff froof!"

Youth: "I want to comply with your orders. I am not violent. I am not resisting. I can't hear y..."

Police: "UMFF FLUMFF URGFFFF FRUFFU HUFFF FROOF!!"

Nice desert combat boots.

There have been a lot of Twitter photos of US veterans contrasting pictures of their time in theatres of war (Iraq etc) with press pictures of the police. The police usually appear more heavily armed.

Vice did a good bit on Swatting which covers this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ziLjOPCQwg

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