![\"Michigan](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Michigan-State-Police-300x175.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nI understand the need in today’s culture for a prepared police force, I recognize that they need to be well-trained, mostly I want every law enforcement officer to go home to their families tonight or whenever their shift ends. But, ladies and gentlemen, we don’t need a police force that looks like that graduation photo above of the Michigan State Police after their Emergency Services class which I snagged from Radley Balko at the Washington Post<\/a>. <\/p>\n Radley wrote about the photo last month when it was Tweeted by the Michigan State Police’s Public Affairs Section. At the link above you can read the email exchange between Michigan state offices in regards to the Tweet, and they totally miss the point of the controversy that took place. It’s not that the picture was posted to Twitter, it’s about the militarization of the police force in this country.<\/p>\n I hate that I find myself on the side of the American Civil Liberties Union<\/a>, but, ya know, I hear about shrinking law enforcement budgets across the country, and then I see them spending money in preparation for a war against our citizens. We talked about it last month<\/a> when we found this quote from Sgt. Dan Downing of the Morgan County Sheriff\u2019s Department;<\/p>\n \u2018The weaponry is totally different now that it was in the beginning of my career, plus, you have a lot of people who are coming out of the military that have the ability and knowledge to build IEDs and to defeat law enforcement techniques.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I forgot about all of those training standards for building IEDs from my Common Tasks Training, maybe because I never had that training. Neither did Timothy McVeigh – the scary vet that everyone likes to point to as an example of what we’re capable of doing to this country.<\/p>\n When I moved to DC 15 years ago, I was shocked to see the Metropolitan police dressed in BDU-style uniforms. It seemed incongruous to police work – and that was before 9-11. That was just the beginning, though. Now we have examples of preparation for war against the citizenry in our own country, including armored vehicles, up to and including tanks. Warrants are served with a stack of SWAT members outside your door. What’s up with that?<\/p>\n Actually, police-guys, you look more like Air Softer wannabes than you look like law enforcement personnel. Seriously.<\/p>\n Brookline SRT poses before a police training exercise. They train 2x a month to be prepared for any situation. pic.twitter.com\/wax7auHmZ2<\/a><\/p>\n — Brookline PD (@BrooklineMAPD) June 24, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n