Guys,
Yesterday, I was out riding my Suzuki. It was a beautiful day in North Jersey, so why not? I took a ride up PA 611, then 191 to Stroudsburg. That was ride I used to make all the time, but I hadn't done it in a while. Anyway, while I was out and about, I took a ride over to the Stroudsburg area of PA. I took a quick ride through ESU to see if any cute college chicks were still around; they were. After that, on the way out of town, I saw something that made me do a double take...
As I was crossing the Brown Street bridge, I saw a small, single axle dump truck hauling a trailer. That isn't unusual; you see many small dump trucks hauling trailers with backhoes, bobcats, etc. What WAS unusual about this particular dump truck & trailer was what was on the trailer: an M113 armored personnel carrier! Not only that, it was painted in livery denoting it was for the "Stroud Area Region" police. WTF does a small area police department need a M113?! I could understand a big city police department wanting one for SWAT operations against real bad guys or terrorists, but you don't see either of those in Stroudsburg, PA!
The M113 was painted in a semi-gloss black with white lettering. The word 'police' was in large, capital letters, while the the department name was painted in smaller letters below 'police'. I did some quick searching, and it seems that Stroud Township, Stroudsburg, and East Stroudsburg have combined their police departments into the Stroud Area Regional Police Department. Again, I could NOT believe what I was seeing, because the Stroudsburg area is a nice, sleepy college town with a good, regional hospital.
Oh, by the way, the truck towing the M113 went over a 13 ton bridge! That's right; they violated the weight limit of the bridge. According to Wikipedia, the M113 alone weighs 13.6 tons. That's short tons, which is the ton used in the US; in fact, we just use ton to denote the 2,000 lb short ton. The truck and trailer had to weigh another five or six tons minimum, for a combined weight of of about 19 tons. Not only was the bridge rated for 13 tons (much less than the approximate 19 tons of the truck, trailer, and APC); it was old, so it may not even bee good for 13 tons anymore. Ah, but because it was a police vehicle, I guess it was ok; after all, the blue gun thugs can and do do what they want.
In closing, I cannot believe that a small, PA police force is using an M113 APC! I could understand a big city department needing one, but not a small police department. When would they ever need to do SWAT operations, let alone fight real bad guys with real weapons justifying the need for an M113? In any case, the police are indeed being militarized, and it's not a good thing. Until next time...
MarkyMark
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Just remember the Niemoller quote:
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."
Many people have the idea that because they're "Law Abiding Citizens" they have nothing to fear from the "Law".
Well, history teach us the harsh reality of a police state.
Sooner or later You will see Border Patrol Agents (no matter that You're living thousands of miles of the Mexican Border), doing things in your community that the regular police wouldn't dare to do.
Time will tell...
Theres no such thing as law abiding citizen
As theres no laws to abide by
If there were laws, dont you think the ones enforcing them would be restricted by them
There are no laws, only degrees of escaping criminals at the end of a gun
As there are no criminals to point a gun at a police, there are no laws
Didn't the USSA govt buy hollow point bullets which are banned by the Geneva convention? The govt. is buying lots of ammo and every branch, ie Post Office has or will get one soon- A SWAT team?!!? The only good sign is that the end is near hopefully. If Obama can get the US to give up guns, then the rest of the world will more easily fall in line with their NWO.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/full-spectrum-operations-in-the-homeland-a-%E2%80%9Cvision%E2%80%9D-of-the-future
It's totally weird to see the police acting like a paramilitary organization. Perhaps they are concerned about the uptick of school shootings that quickly turn sleepy college towns into horrific crime scenes. Tanks seem like overkill. It's one more thing to get used to - along with being searched before catching a flight.
Savvy,
What it's REALLY about is putting us, the subjects, in our place; it's showing us who's boss. It's also about preparing for the inevitable economic and societal collapse that must happen (like day following night), thanks to our profligate spending that gave us a $17.55 trillion debt. That cannot go on; the laws of economics cannot be repealed. Once things collapse, look out! THAT'S the real reason for the police militarizing...
MarkyMark
Serf uprisings like occupy...but that are actually successful. That's probably what really scares everyone.
Serf uprisings like occupy...but that are actually successful. That's probably what really scares everyone.
EXACTLY. That's what scares the folks in power anyway. Why else would DHS and other gov't agencies buy up BILLIONS of rounds of ammo? Why else would the police militarize?
WRT the militarizing, you can hear it even in the way the police themselves talk. When they talk about those of us who aren't police, they speak of us as 'civilians'-just like military men would...
Yep, we've seen one down here too. Extremely unsettling.
Brings to mind a few scenes from the novel I just finished: Term Limits, by Vince Flynn.
From time to time, I read a news article about a SWAT team breaking down the door at the wrong address, or similar situations. It makes me shudder. I don't want to think about that happening here, and our children growing up without Mommy and Daddy, because Mommy and Daddy opened fire on the home invaders to protect them, and the home invaders turned out to be thugs with badges and body armor and things that pack bigger punches than Mommy's and Daddy's .45s.
--Sarah
Saw this comic:
http://ftf-comics.com/?comic=military-style-police
and thought of this post. The discussion continues in the comments below the comic too. Lots of good points made.
--Sarah
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