Boston Martial Law from a Police Perspective - Do You Find This Disturbing?

Yesterday a facebook friend, a local police officer, proudly posted the following article regarding the police response in Boston last week. I opened his link with interest because I was curious if he thought the show of force was a concern (as I do) or if he was proud how the Boston situation was handled. Hoping to find some common ground or at least a better understanding of a different perspective, I instead found the article to be a deeply disturbing look into what seems to becoming the normal police perspective - one of control, domination and arrogance. The author basically says the militarization of police is necessary to keep us safe, assumes those of us concerned about the potential of martial law in the US are now temporarily muted by this recent need for it, tells us to trust only law enforcement to tell us what we should know and compares the Boston officers with Jesus.

Obviously there are both great officers and bad ones - and I do apologize for grouping all the great ones in with this discussion of the general group - but it seems like there is possibly some brainwashing going on? Or do the personalities most naturally attracted to law enforcement in the first place have a tendency toward domination? What happened to protecting people and their rights? Now it seems everyone is a suspect who is guilty until proven innocent and we're at the mercy of police suspicions.

Perhaps someone can give me some insight. Any thoughtful opinion will be appreciated, even if you completely disagree with me. I'm honestly hoping to better understand this topic. Thanks! Here's the article and the source:

Article

Boston bombings: 6 things cops know that most Americans don't
Chief Joel F. Shults, Ed.D

I do not want to be counted among the journalists who — in the necessary chatter of avoiding dead air — weave a thousand speculative stories. But in the wake of the events in Boston last week, here are some observations I offer after nearly four decades in the business.

1.) There is evil in the world. We can scramble for meaning and theories and existential answers but you don’t have to be a believer in the supernatural to see that some people just want to kill and destroy. Many commentators and reporters centered on the theme of why a person everyone describes as a nice, normal guy could do this. Study it all you want my friends. No one is immune from the influence of wickedness.

2.) This is why we have seen the militarization of the police. This week’s events will not silence those who say that SWAT tactics and “military grade weapons” are not appropriate for civilian policing, but it will mute them for a while. Guess what: you want us to deal with bombers and mass murder? Then give us those tools.

3.) Facts and theories are golden. Conjecture is foolishness. We don’t try to keep the public in the dark. We just can’t play “expert commentator” and throw out a bunch of possible scenarios. We deal in evidence. Facts. Rational probabilities. Trust us and don’t blame us for silence or misinformation. We’ll tell you what is appropriate to be shared at an appropriate time.

4.) Cops are not omniscient or omnipresent. We work within the laws of physics. The cheers after Tsarnaev’s arrest were preceded by impatient questions of how he had gotten away from “all those cops.” If we could recruit officers with psychic powers we would.

5.) The applause will fade. We’ll bask in appreciation while we can, but the next police officer who is murdered will not make CNN headlines. Jesus was welcomed with shouts of adoration not many days before the crowds turned and called for his crucifixion. Maybe you won’t forget, but you probably will.

6.) This is what we face every day. Every. Day. Shootouts with murderers? Well, not many of us have, but all of us are standing in line and ready for it. You can say, “I’m out of harm’s way because I’m not in a war zone” but if shooters and bombers have taught us anything it is that they can strike anywhere, anytime. I can’t think of any warrior cop that I know that would have hesitated one minute to go to Boston if called or who thinks that kind of thing couldn’t happen in their patrol area.

Where are the good cops? Huh? People always say "I know there are good cops" THEN WHERE ARE THEY? WHY ARE THEY NOT FIGHTING THE CORRUPTION? That's just it, there are NONE. Cops are simply paid thugs who carry out orders they never come to understand. Some do, but most live in the dark like us.

The reason this is so dangerous is because this is how the Police are trained. This is the type of response they want and recruits are filtered for these beliefs and an tendency to be susceptible to indoctrination.

The high IQ recruits tend to fail the recruiting psych tests. This is not just in the US either.

Police are trained and then work in an environment of us against them. We are the them. It will take a great deal of effort to get Policing back to the thinking of service. As it stands now, they must be obeyed!

Stuff that idea!

P

This useful idiot really believes he is useful, doing the work of God and all. Enjoy your toys until your masters decide you've been useful enough and they decide its too dangerous for you to have such privelages yourself.

Comparing himself to Jesus?

Time for a Psych Evaluation IMO.

If it were me, no evaluation. Disarm, take away the badge and put him on Obama's ever increasing watch list.

Peace

Wow, drawing a parallel with Jesus and using the phrase "warrior cop" really sums it all up.....power tripping or what. Is he going to battle against the forces of evil so that we may all be saved and can bask in his glory.

Too bad they forget they are civil servants that have become niether civil or servant.

reply to post by jude11


I agree.
This is a perfect scenario for the American people to call their Congressman demanding that this "officer" be removed from his position. He is displaying obvious mental illness. I'm no psychiatrist, but my best guess would be megalomania. We don't need men in uniform who are suffering from this psychological disorder. I think we need to make sure he gets the help he needs.

Originally posted by Grayarea

Too bad they forget they are civil servants that have become niether civil or servant.

Nope.

Now they are GOD!

Remember to duck, cover and keep your powder dry folks.

Peace

Is this police friend aware of government-sponsored terrorism?

Sounds like he is just taking a moment to toot his own horn. He will be police officer 'for life', we can't really expect him to insult his profession or throw his fellow company under the bus
...but, we can expect him to be more intelligent!

He only comments on one side of the story. Unfortunately, this topic has countless angles.

You can assume there are like-minded people in the military as well.... that will fire on American citizens when ordered to.

He sounds like he has political asperations which is more scary.All those ladies in Liz Warrens back yard will love him.' He's so strong and valiant'. The guy sounds like a whiner, boo-hoo nobody respects me,why won't they clap every day. If your so affraid of all these boogy men why not change jobs, we won't miss you.
The moron can't put two and two together and think, gee since the fbi knew about these guys, in fact they were on the watch list, maybe an agent or two could have visited the boys Monday morning to see if they wanted to load up thier knapsacks and go for a picnic, That is awsome police work huh!
Also I don't recall ever asking the police to protect me, in fact the supreme court says police are under no obligation to protect anyone, so if your in actual danger they don't have to do anything but if your in your home doing nothing they are more than glad to bust in and "protect" you.
As far as all this daily danger he faces I don't know about where you live but in my town (in mass) there has been an average of 4 crimes a year, thats accross the board, yet we spent millions for these jerks to hang out and flirt with the girls at the coffee shop.

The comments on there are just to ridicules. To be made by actual users.

Before we get all high and mighty, we need to keep ourselves grounded with the following thoughts.
1) It was a citizen's tip that led to the final capture.
2) It was citizen video that gave the best photo of the perps.
3) It was fellow citizen's that turned in/i'd the perps. What I am trying to say is that It takes excellent police work, combined with citizen involvement to solve crimes quickly.

RealOscar; The atricle is an open letter to the public, giving some insight on what we do and how we do it. The fact that you can somehow read into this that the police are behaving 'high and mighty' is offensive. In the course of these terrorist acts, the ultimate sacrifice was required and given. This article implores the public to respect and remember that.

Very well said!

People will very learn then.

Like the author, I, too, have nearly 40 years in law enforcement. The first paragraph of Item 1 and the last paragraph of Item 6 struck a particular chord with me.

I am sure you did. And here's more stupidly.

Great reflection and food for thought. As we move forward, I am disturbed by the notion that some are now calling for another's life be taken after we cheered that he was caught alive. My heart goes out to all the victim's families. Lock this guy up for the rest of his life and be done with this.......

I have no further comments then to say the only reason some people in the world are angry is because in Boston some young chanted USA USA as it was like a sports game. I am also not sure where that user claims some are now calling for another's life be taken after they cheered that he was caught alive.

Some people by reading there comments are just stupid and brainless sheeps. But the The TV told me!

After reading this article I am so deeply saddened. It seems like every day some small piece of our freedom is being taken away.
1. We know that there is evil in the world. All you have to do is turn on the TV. People work better together towards a solution then being told "How it will be changed"
2. I will never be mute. It may not be the best place to be but I will always be standing tall yelling for my rights. I know that we need the civil servents of America, but I will depend on myself for protection. Living in a rual area we have to.
3.I will not trust blindly, that is stupidity. Open your eyes and see what is going on around you, never just take someone elses word for it.
4. Whatever, I still don't understand how he got away.
5. You should not be a cop for the applause. If that is why you took that job, then you are part of the problem. You are no God of mine. Anyone who tries to even compare themselves to God has more issues than can be talked about here
6. I respect every man and women who puts their lives on the line for our freedoms, I will however not give mine to them.

Whew, at least I feel a bit better now.

reply to post by Anjola

We need more good people in law enforcement, in government, positions of power etc.

Ron Paul gave us real hope. One of the few who wanted to de-fang the police state and reset the government's massive power grabs over the past few decades.

We'll never see another Ron Paul in our lifetimes so its up to us.

Imho the only good cop is a dead cop. I hate them all they are not protectors but tax men and body snatchers i will defend my self and my family they are not needed.

Where are the good cops? Huh? People always say "I know there are good cops" THEN WHERE ARE THEY? WHY ARE THEY NOT FIGHTING THE CORRUPTION? That's just it, there are NONE. Cops are simply paid thugs who carry out orders they never come to understand. Some do, but most live in the dark like us.

reply to post by Meaningless


You can't paint every profession with the same broad brush. There's good and bad in every profession. I'm sure everyone here has experienced people who they work with who are dishonest, who have poor attitudes, are power hungry and those that don't pull their weight at work. We hear it all the time about police officers, teachers, business owners. union workers, etc....

I can be guilty of it myself, but it really isn't fair to group these people with those who are doing their job honestly and professionally with genuine concerns for the people, children and businesses they serve. Too many times people are only following directives that are being handed down by their supervisors. People of the world have a beehive mentality, they follow orders out of concerns for their job and family even when those orders go against their own beliefs.

No big deal, guys like this are harmless for the most part. There will never be an us against them scenario because people with ego's like this can't really fight when it comes right down to it. Especially if they cant clock out at 6:30 and go home to watch CSI and relax...

On a one to one, you have to protect yourself against assholes in all walks of life, or pay the consequences, even with law enforcement. It's been like this since the dawn of time.

This is why in every walk of life, every place on earth, one has to take self preservation very seriously, it's nature. Those who don't and even some of those who are pay for it in very harsh ways. Of course cops can be sharks, so can anyone else. If you think that the numbers are stacked in your favor, you're wrong. It's statements like this one that drive ordinary citizens to empty gunshops and ammunition shelves, but it's all bark and no bite if you ask me.

reply to post by WeRpeons


The difference is though police take an oath to up hold the foundational documents and they seem to have forgoten which orders are lawful or not. No matter how scared anyone get its not an excuse to point a gun at me in my own home, and strip me of my rights.
Other professions don't tend to take oath, and they don't have the ability to ruin lifes the way cops do. That ability should only be given to those who honer it not thug we have running around now burying thier crimes.
Us citizens need to remember that they work for a corporation not us. They owe us nothing including protection, so when they say they are doing this to "protect" us thats a crock. They are doing it cause they have been itching to play with thier big boy toys and power trip.
I defy anyone to show me a person that put on a uniform and doesn't end up with a superiority complex.

i work at a police department, and a couple of days ago i was talking to some of the cops in regards to the videos of Boston pd raiding people houses and treating their own people like crap...


and the cops response was..."If i had to shoot my cousin,my brother, my mother, even one of my kids..i would do it..you have to do what you have to do, you know?"

and almost simultaneously about another 5 more cops agreed and approved of this guys comment...and then when i asked them what was wrong with them...why would they think its ok to do anything like that that..i was given the response. that if i keep thinking like that then maybe i shouldn't work at a police department.

and i think this is the general mentality when it comes to the meat head borderline psychopathic cops that we hire..then again this is exactly what the system wants..brutes that would be willing to kill their own mothers and children to keep their status in society as an "authority"

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive." C.S. Lewis

History has shown a proclivity towards tyranny by "evil" men in this world by both fabricating and "blowing up" (pun intended) the resultant fear from acts of evil - terrorism. False flag attacks are nothing new. Hitler initiated the Reichstag Fire (1933) to consolidate his power (resulting in something like our "Patriot Act" even before the Nazi Weapons ("Gun Control") Act of 1938. The Japanese blow up a train as an excuse to go into China and there are still questions about the bombing of the Maine....then we come to Gulf of Tonkin "incident", Operations Gladio and Northwoods (not activated) and even Cheney's push for a false flag attack in the Persian Gulf as an excuse to attack Iran. The "militarization of the police" (9000 officers dressed in black bdu;s and swat gear looking for 2 then 1 suspect "responsible" for killing 3 with a homemade bomb and then 1 campus policeman (a defacto state of undeclared martial law when people are ordered not only stay in their homes but also forced out at gun point to yield to "unreasonable searches") could fall into this historical pattern. Santayana said that "those who fail to learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them."

Regarding the "facts" of the Boston Bombing....there are a lot of facts that have led to questions that have not had satisfactory answers. For instance, there is video of the older brother being arrested and led off in handcuffs and stripped to insure that he had no bombs on his person after the firefight (surrendered after running out of ammo?) and it was confirmed to be him by a relative and looks to be him and then the story is that his brother ran him offer and he was shot in the firefight by police. Pictures show a severely injured body after he had died. The police answer is "that was not him who was arrested." If he was killed in police custody then they would lie about it. If it was not him (and the person was not acting like an innocently arrested person unless an exhibitionist0 then who was it? Then the police shot up the boat and said that the younger brother attempted suicide (gunshot in the mouth) which resulted in his inability to speak (altho "unidentified sources" gave the media an account of his confession) and then it was later determined that there was no gun in the boat. The only gun that the brothers had was found at the scene of the shootout.

Cops are not hired for being omniscient or psychic; in fact, there is evidence that PDs do not want to hire anyone with an above average intelligence as they would be more likely to challenge authority and question unlawful orders while the dumbed down are more apt to follow questionable orders like living androids.

Cops face this "everyday".... which begs the question why was it necessary to put 9000 militarized police on the streets and declare a city wide emergency this time. The bombing, altho captured on tv before a live audience did not involve follow up attacks on citizens like the attack in Mumbai, India. There are still lots of questions about the whole incident and the role of the Boston PD in what appears to be a federal agenda.

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive." C.S. Lewis

History has shown a proclivity towards tyranny by "evil" men in this world by both fabricating and "blowing up" (pun intended) the resultant fear from acts of evil - terrorism. False flag attacks are nothing new. Hitler initiated the Reichstag Fire (1933) to consolidate his power (resulting in something like our "Patriot Act" even before the Nazi Weapons ("Gun Control") Act of 1938. The Japanese blew up a train as an excuse to go into China and there are still questions about the bombing of the Maine....then we come to Gulf of Tonkin "incident", Operations Gladio and Northwoods (not activated) and even Cheney's push for a false flag attack in the Persian Gulf as an excuse to attack Iran. The "militarization of the police" (9000 officers dressed in black bdu;s and swat gear looking for 2 then 1 suspect "responsible" for killing 3 with a homemade bomb and then 1 campus policeman (a defacto state of undeclared martial law when people are ordered not only stay in their homes but also forced out at gun point to yield to "unreasonable searches") could fall into this historical pattern. Santayana said that "those who fail to learn the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them."

Regarding the "facts" of the Boston Bombing....there are a lot of facts that have led to questions that have not had satisfactory answers. For instance, there is video of the older brother being arrested and led off in handcuffs and stripped to insure that he had no bombs on his person after the firefight (surrendered after running out of ammo?) and it was confirmed to be him by a relative and looks to be him and then the story is that his brother ran him offer and he was shot in the firefight by police. Pictures show a severely injured body after he had died. The police answer is "that was not him who was arrested." If he was killed in police custody then they would lie about it. If it was not him (and the person was not acting like an innocently arrested person unless an exhibitionist0 then who was it? Then the police shot up the boat and said that the younger brother attempted suicide (gunshot in the mouth) which resulted in his inability to speak (altho "unidentified sources" gave the media an account of his confession) and then it was later determined that there was no gun in the boat. The only gun that the brothers had was found at the scene of the shootout.

Cops are not hired for being omniscient or psychic; in fact, there is evidence that PDs do not want to hire anyone with an above average intelligence as they would be more likely to challenge authority and question unlawful orders while the dumbed down are more apt to follow questionable orders like living androids.

Cops face this "everyday".... which begs the question why was it necessary to put 9000 militarized police on the streets and declare a city wide emergency this time. The bombing, altho captured on tv before a live audience did not involve follow up attacks on citizens like the attack in Mumbai, India. There are still lots of questions about the whole incident and the role of the Boston PD in what appears to be a federal agenda.