If economic trends continue, and Obama gets neither a clue nor a spine, they're gonna need all that, and more.

Probably developed over the years from the phrase "don't bring a knife to a gun fight".

This incident occurred while the SWAT team was being filmed for a TV show called The First 48. There is an assumption the police were influenced by the camera crew.

LA Police has been militarized for decades. And that is the model that they have been emulating here and elsewhere.

A lot of this is the direct result of the "War on Drugs." Local law enforcement agencies were flush with cash because they were allowed to keep or sell property seized in drug busts which they used to purchase all kinds of toys for their departments.

Not to mention the shift in mentality that the "War on Drugs" produced. Local law enforcement thought that they had found themselves on the "frontlines" of a war against drug cartels, biker gangs, and organized crime and have started playing the part.

The rank that some of these small town sheriffs wear now is pretty telling. Most sheriffs used to wear captains bars, now I see them on TV wearing 4 or 5 stars like they're Patton or something. These guys really seem to fancy themselves generals waging "war."

Unfortunately for some of these guys the "War on Drugs" isn't in the spotlight anymore so they're finding other things to wage "war" on. For instance Sheriff (and 4 star general) Joe Arpaio has declared "war" on illegal immigrants. The guy even set up his own WWII POW camp style "prison."

In my humble opinion it's the shift in attitude that's the most dangerous. It's the "seek and destroy" type of attitude that gets people stomped to death for public urination. If officers were still focused on helping the public out that never would have happened.

Stalin and Franco are laughing!...in Hell.

Pragmatic Portlander is right on....Plus, they keep recruiting and hiring PTSD military police veterans from the Balkan War, Iraq (I & II), Afghanistan, etc.....or local wannabees, shaved heads & oakley sunglasses, steroids and all.

If you've been to the Rose Festival parade the last few years, the 500 or so officers getting paid overtime for policing that rowdy event get to show off their hardware at various times during the procession. This is not just happening in L.A., in other words, and it's a natural progression of the us vs. them mentality that has led to many abuses in recent years.

"Knife to a gun fight?" Are you serious? What citizens have tanks? This reflexive support for supporting the police power may be part of why right wingers don't really care about exaggerating the 2nd Amendment (and have no problem manipulating the NRA's minions for support). If the police are militarized to the gills when our economy's D-Day happens, hunting rifles aren't going to to do much to stop an over-reaching government anyway. It almost seems to keep the Tea Party-types distracted from what they should really be worried about.

Well, they do things differently in Detroit: in suburban Joke's Park there, a homeowner's facing 93 days in jail for growing vegetables in her front yard.

http://www.theagitator.com/2011/07/07/does-michelle-obama-know-about-this/

The Federal Government isn't only deploying its military might overseas -- DHS grants all around to fund the fun.

BTW, the article reads like one from Worldnet Daily (Rania Khalek is a progressive activist.). Just sayin'.

The Police agencies ever-constant, multi-hour road closures for Traffic Accident Reconstruction Investigations serve to condition we the Sheepeople that our Police have the ability and authority to take control of our lives at any time they choose and for any reason.

The Reconstruction Investigations serve little purpose other than to demonstrate that ability.

One day someone, somewhere will put up a statue to a young child who was shot by the police and died in one of the raids. We can hope can't we?

I was walking near the PPD headquarters downtown and noticed many are wearing riot shotguns on their back as they stroll down the block for coffee, lunch, etc. I grew up with guns and I'm certainly not a criminal, but I couldn't help but have a queasy-nervous feeling. There's a banana republic feel to it that's hard to shake...