Police In Military Style Attire Confront Rioters In St. Louis Area

Set aside for a second what caused the St. Louis riots this week.  Also set aside the fact that there is no connection between anger directed at social injustice and looting a shoe store.

The Atlantic ran a story today with a picture of three officers dressed in fatigues, military style rifles raised at a small young man with arms up.  One can understand the weapons, at least in a riot situation. Police should be able to protect themselves in dangerous situations.

But what about the combat fatigues?

The militarization of American police continues unabated.  Reports of small town and even campus police obtaining armored personnel carriers strike most people as absurd.  SWAT style raids have hit farms who sell raw milk to willing customers as well.

Add to this the outpouring of stories where police needlessly shoot dogs.  In Mason County, police shot a dog on its owner's property where no crime had taken place.

The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 expressly forbids the US military from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the country.  It passed before the rise of city and state police departments, as well as much of the federal law enforcement apparatus.  Police departments need equipment and weapons in case they must confront the most dangerous elements.

They, however, should not be outfitted in military style apparel unless a specific situation calls for it.

And we cannot allow police departments to grow into alternative military units.  The US Army in 1898 had about 28,000 officers and men.  The New York City Police Department now has around 40,000 officers.

Traditionally, city police wear blue uniforms.  Some say that this goes back to the London Metropolitan Police Department who supposedly chose the color to distinguish police from the army.  State Police, however, wear uniforms similar to those worn by the US Army during the First World War.  Many states formed their police after the war and used surplus uniforms.  As military uniforms quickly evolved, most state police kept the old style.

Beyond the uniforms, the tactics and equipment of the police have grown to more and more resemble the military.  Rarely, this may be necessary, but not for routine use.

Appearances matter, though.  Police in fatigues inspire more fear and less confidence in those they are sworn to protect.

American police cannot go around like Sheriff Andy Taylor with a broad smile and no gun.  But likewise, they cannot approach every situation like Samuel L. Jackson in SWAT.  Police safety must be upheld, but the public is losing confidence in police to do their jobs with discipline and restraint.

Deincentivizing Mass Murder

Conor Friedersdorf  at The Atlantic may not have a sure fire way to stop mass murders.  But his idea may erode the perverse allure that it has for those who do it.

Traditional serial killers differ from mass murderers in one sense.  Serial killers work in the dark over time.  The media and nation knew their deeds, but not their name.  When finally caught, they turn out to be much more pathetic than the anonymous image imagined.  Mass murderers in the new century prefer to go out, as the song says, in a blaze of glory.  One vast and violent act so that their name may be written across the sky (or the internet.)  They expect to be defined by their ghastly acts and violent death.

The latest killer mistakenly thought this was not cruel and cowardly, but being an "alpha male."

Friedersdorf proposes that the media impose a self-discipline on itself that it has already done in other fields.  Outlets do not publish the names of rape victims, for instance.  They also stopped releasing manifestos from the Unabomber during his domestic terrorism rampage.  Sporting event coverage always turns its cameras away from streakers.  So why not refuse to release the names or manifestos of mass murderers.

In fact, these killers could be called narcissism terrorists.  They have an agenda, to put their name on the historical record through death and mayhem.  Perceived imbalance in society, namely that no one pays attention to them, drives their actions.  Expectation of attention motivates them.

So why not just stop going on and on about them; deny them their posthumous place in the sun.

Friedersdorf does not propose to make information a "state secret."  Just keep their attention seeking drivel and their names out of the media, at least for a while.  Hopefully, this would undercut their absurd motivations for visiting such cruelty on their fellow man.

War On Boys: Kids Play With Air Soft Gun, Police Called, Kids Expelled From School

WAVY TV in Virginia's Tidewater section reports that two seventh grade boys will be suspended for a year for playing with toy guns.  At home.

A neighbor called police even though she knew that the boys were playing "zombies" with their toy guns.  She claimed that she felt "uncomfortable," which must be a crime now in Virginia.  The school board met, despite the boys playing on private property, and decided that they needed suspended.

The parents then learned they could send their children to an alternative school, likely one with real criminal offenders.

This follows a now long established pattern of public school systems' increasing prejudice against boys.  This article from The Atlantic in 2000 illustrates the problem even back then.  Normal boy behavior is increasingly seen as aberrant while girls thrive.

Boys play guns.  Boys like to play like they are killing bad guys.  This is natural behavior going back to caveman times.  Adults should not worry if they like playing at killing bad guys, or in this case zombies.  It shows a respect for societal norms.  One would think that in choosing a mythical creature as their target instead of a human, they might be praised by the adults around them.

The woman who called police said that it made her uncomfortable to see a boy pointing a gun.  He was pointing it at a target when she called.

But no, zero tolerance for common sense is now the norm. Especially in public school.