Buffalo Police JBTs

Wow, only a couple of days since my last JBT post, and the Buffalo Police Department has already shown a perfect example of why the militarization of our police is a bad idea.

Story

Armed with a battering ram and shotguns, Buffalo police looking for heroin broke down the door and stormed the lower apartment of a West Side family of eight.

The problem is that the Wednesday evening raid should have occurred at an apartment upstairs.

And, that’s only the tip of the iceberg, according to Schavon Pennyamon, who lives at the mistakenly raided apartment on Sherwood Street with her husband, Terrell, and six children.

Pennyamon alleges that after wrongly breaking into her apartment, police proceeded to strike her epileptic husband in the head with the butt end of a shotgun and point shotguns at her young children before admitting their mistake and then raiding the right apartment.

She says she’s left with a broken door, an injured husband, jittery children and — what bothers her most — still no apology from police.

“They know they did something wrong and they were still ignorant,” said the 29-year-old Pennyamon. “At first, I just wanted an apology. Now, because they want[ed] to be ignorant and rude, I have to take it to the next level.”

I hope she sues their ass off. A spokesmen apologized eventually, but why aren't the police at least fixing her door, and checking on the innocent citizen they beat in the head?

“It appears to be an honest mistake and we certainly apologize to all involved,” added Michael J. DeGeorge, Buffalo police spokesman.

An honest mistake? Luckily no innocent CITIZENS were killed this time.

Pennyamon remains unconvinced it was a mistake. She says officers told her they had “raided the house before” and she believes they felt entitled to do it again — warrant or not.

“The way they make it seem is ‘we can do whatever we want,’ ” she said.

Pennyamon’s troubled by what she says is an arrogance by police officers and an unwillingness to “serve and protect” those who need it.

“It’s a sad situation. I’ve always looked up to the police. I’ve always expected them to be on my side.”

How sad.

JBTs

There is a label on the right that is entitled "JBTs". This stands for Jack Booted Thugs. This wikipedia entry should explain the reference rather well for anyone who does not understand it.

I am not here to claim that every cop doing their job is an authoritarian fascist maniac. I don't believe that, nor do I respect that opinion in the least. It is the position of a leftard antiwar marcher, a lazy parrot that is most likely a drain on society.

There are however many officers that abuse their power, swat teams that think they are in Fallujah, and plenty of administrators that see us "civilians" as cattle to be herded.

The militarization of police forces across the country is quite alarming. We see SWAT teams dressed out in tactical gear, with assault rifles and subguns at the ready, all the time on our television sets. We have grown accustomed to seeing such things. A police SWAT team is not necessarily a bad thing at all. The overuse of one is however.

We shouldn't be using them any more than is absolutely necessary. No knock entries by a large group of heavily armed police creates an inherently dangerous situation. Sometimes this may be warranted, but most often it is not. Storming a guys house that sells a few dime bags of weed on the weekends does not warrant special treatment for example. Maybe if there is evidence that he has weapons in the house, AND has a known violent temperment, such force is appropriate. Otherwise it isn't.

This reference also can be used for federal forces, as Wayne LaPierre did, which caused quite the controversy. The events at Ruby Ridge, and Mount Carmel illustrate the danger very well. I am not supporting what David Koresh or Randy Weaver did in the least, but both of these situations could have worked out very differently if the authorities involved had thought out a better plan before going in like ninjas.

This is nothing new to most people who read my blog or people that have similar blogs. I am not the first person, by a long shot, to study this phenomena. I do however think it is appropriate to put up this post to clarify why that topic will be getting some more posts in the future, after containing only one prior to now.

We must fight to preserve our liberty. A police state is an inherently safe state generally, but it is not a free state. We must resist turning over our free will to the government.

This "Officer" is a Disgrace

Check out this video.

Link

So this officer threatens to take this 20 year old to jail for no reason just to show him how powerful he is. The poor guy obviously knows his rights, and tried to stick up for himself. This is a perfect example of why people don't trust the police. I am not a cop hater by any means. I respect the police and appreciate the job they do. I have only once ever run into an officer with this kind of incompetent, criminal, attitude.

We conservative types generally respect law enforcement, and teach our children to as well. Cops like these ruin that. They have a duty to remain professional and curious to the people they are supposed to protect and serve. This kid did nothing wrong. All he asked the officer for was why he had been stopped. This is a perfectly reasonable request, and a lawful one.

This particular officer should be fired. He has no business wearing the uniform.