Militarization of Law Enforcement

[CasperParks]

Militarization of Law Enforcement

Depending on the nation there is a separation of military forces between law enforcement for state, county and local police. A push from politicians to merge aspects of Military and Domestic Law Enforcement is gaining a foothold in the United States.

Article at Florida Phoenix "Florida State Guard could triple in size, gain military police-like arm," click here for article at their website.

Below are quotes from the article.

“The Florida State Guard is created to protect and defend the people of Florida from all threats to public safety and to augment all existing state and local agencies, detect, and apprehend while activated,” the bill says.

The force will be housed within the Florida Department of Military Affairs which oversees the National Guard, but will be administratively independent. There will be a director, but the governor will be commander in chief.

But the bill also envisions a “specialized unit” with “the same law enforcement authority as the law enforcement agency in conjunction with which they are working when activated,” the bill says.

During a meeting of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, bill sponsor Bryan Avila, a Republican from Dade County, described the unit as “sort of an M.P. law enforcement-type of entity.” M.P. stands for military police.

Opinion:

I highlighted bold for the last quote to draw attention to it. One of the bills sponsors called the Florida State Guard "sort of an M.P. Law Enforcement-Type of Entity". The article correctly states M.P. stands for Military Police.

There is a difference between The Florida National Guard and The Florida State Guard. A Florida State Guard is not regular Federal Military. There is concern the legislation is broad and could lead to abuse of power.

Over the past number of years, we've witnessed the Militarization of Law Enforcement. State and Local Police have received military hardware, vehicles and weapons.

At the time of this posting, legislation is pending for The Florida State Guard. If it passes, other States could do something similar, and or something at the Federal Level could happen.

State Guards to assist with natural disasters is one thing. Potential for State Guards to act as Military Police for domestic law enforcement is a concern. Legislation of this type needs to have limitations.

At the time of this posting, it is difficult to predict where this type of legislation could lead for societies.

Recommend reading:
"Emerging-Surveillance-State" thread at The Outpost Forum, click here.
And
"Corporate Sponsered Surveillance" thread at the Outpost Forum, click here.

[Shere Khaan]

Look while being Republican tied initiative makes it suspicious, France is well known for their military police force (Gendarmes) and they actually seem better than the police. Generally the police force exists in larger cities but have a tendency to be more corrupt in Paris. The Gendarmes handles the policing in rural areas and small towns, plus anti terrorist activities. When you see 3 people in uniforms with military weapons in the airports... that is the gendarmes and not the police.

I suppose the US has always been another kettle of fish though...