They swarm the porch shouting “Police!” But it’s a lie.

It sounds like something out of a totalitarian state, and it is – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are allowed to lie to citizens – even impersonate police officers. But the real police don’t like it at all. It undermines trust and creates problems. And it’s gotten so bad that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the LA City attorney, and City Council President Herb Wesson sent a letter to ICE telling them to knock it off.

As the LAPD, the city’s police department, had to point out, rousting and terrifying communities undermines actual police work. The problem is so severe and so widespread that a proposed House Bill seeks to end the practice by prohibiting ICE agents from lying about who they are.

This single issue highlights an important point – that federal and local policing have different objectives. Donald Trump’s xenophobic purge of brown people should not be conflated with the needs of American cities.

With already serious problems of police militarization, taser abuse, police shootings, racism and misconduct elsewhere, many communities are trying to do something about it – regain control over the hiring and firing of officers, conducting public reviews of police misconduct cases, and re-introducing community policing. But now they have another problem – ICE agents eroding the trust of communities that police departments serve.

Police officers are obliged to forward fingerprints and other arrest information to a variety of federal databases, and they often detain suspected criminals on behalf of Immigration and Custom Enforcement – only as long as the Constitution permits. But in communities with large immigrant and minority populations, many police departments would simply rather not be in the Immigration business. In Santa Clara County, California, for example, the DA and county police chiefs signed an agreement spelling out their involvement with federal policing:

“The agencies of this county will not enforce federal immigration laws,” said Morgan Hill police Chief David Swing, president of the county chiefs association. “It is not our mission nor our role … we will treat all of our residents with dignity regardless of status.”

Conscientious police officials also adhere to the letter of the law by not honoring ICE detainers beyond certain limits – because? – well, because the U.S. Constitution says so:

Two weeks ago, the Department of Homeland Security started issuing a weekly report that aims to identify and publicly shame law enforcement agencies that released people from custody despite an ICE detainer request. And U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions went a step further last week, promising to withhold federal funding from law enforcement departments that don’t get in line with ICE. But several sheriffs said their defiance is not rooted in ethical or political opposition but legal concerns. Federal court rulings, including one in Oregon where a judge found that police violated a woman’s constitutional rights by keeping her in jail at ICE’s request, have left California’s law enforcement officials worrying that they could expose themselves to legal troubles for doing the same.

In fact, according to the National Sheriffs Assocation, a majority of sheriffs departments have stopped honoring ICE hold requests because so many of them are unconstitutional.

Tom Hodgson, ever the right-wing grandstander, appeared yesterday at a forum on immigration at the UMass Law School in Dartmouth. By the next afternoon he was making guest appearances with shock jock Howie Carr, auditioning for Joe Arpaio’s old job – Wingnut Sheriff of America. One wonders why the guy can’t put in a full day at work. But I digress..

Besides previously calling for the arrest of a co-panelist, Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone, Hodgson made a number of odd and false claims: that sanctuary cities are hotbeds of crime (statistics say otherwise); that California prohibits reporting to ICE of human traffickers and gun runners (a lie politifact rates as false); that terrorists hide out in sanctuary cities and Massachusetts is a “magnet” for terrorists (“we have terrorists all over this state,” he said, sounding a lot like Donald Trump); and that no statistics support that improved policing occurs in cities where openness with officers is improved by not being part-time ICE agents.

On Hodgson’s last point – it’s possible that the statistics are as hard to come by as police shooting data, but according to Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, the nation’s police chiefs know something our local talk radio gadfly doesn’t – that sanctuary cities keep crime down. And apparently the still unaggregated data confirms it to their satisfaction.

But whether we call them sanctuary cities, freedom cities, or give them some other designation, the real debate has nothing to do with “sanctuary” – and everything to do with local control of police departments.

There is no suspension of federal law in cities that do not compel Officer Friendly to become an ICE agent. There is no suspension of federal law in cities that hold all suspects for a Constitutionally permitted period. There is no suspension of federal law when cities complain that ICE agents are lying to citizens and undermining the trust of their communities. There is no suspension of federal law when cities, counties, and states decide – for themselves – what kind of community policing they want to do.

There are now three bills in the Massachusetts legislature that would help the Commonwealth protect our communities and community policing programs from ICE and rogue sheriffs.

• The Safe Communities Act, S.1305, proposed by Senator James B. Eldridge
• An Act Relative to Enforcing Federal Law, H.3033, proposed by Rep. Antonio F.D. Cabral
• An Act Limiting the Use of Prison Labor, H.3034, also proposed by Rep. Antonio F.D. Cabral

Next time – I’ll be asking you to call your representatives to support these important pieces of legislation.

Massachusetts Representative Antonio Cabral has written a bill (H.3033) that places limits on the use of state funds that can be used for the federal ICE program. Another bill (H.3034) prohibits sending prisoners out of state [for example, working on Donald Trump’s Great Mexican Wall].

Please send emails in support of Rep. Antonio F.D. Cabral’s bills to both the Massachusetts House and Senate chairs of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary — Senator William Brownsberger and Rep. Claire Cronin:

“Sen. William N. Brownsberger, Chair (Senate)” William.Brownsberger@masenate.gov
“Rep. Claire D. Cronin, Chair (House)” Claire.Cronin@mahouse.gov
“Rep. Antonio F.D. Cabral” Antonio.Cabral@mahouse.gov

If you’re not an enthusiastic letter-writer, here is one possibility:

Dear [–]:

I am writing in support of two bills introduced by Rep. Antonio Cabral and recently assigned to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. These bills limit (a) the involvement of Massachusetts resources in ICE’s deportation efforts (HD 3033) and (b) the use of prison labor outside the State (e.g., to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico) (HD 3034). I also support Senator James Eldridge’s Safe Communities Act (S 1305).

These bills both deserve our support. Residents of Massachusetts towns and cities should be able decide for ourselves what type of community policing we want. The nation’s police departments have not (yet) been federalized. It will be a dark day if this ever happens.

How voluntary is a prisoner’s consent to be used as a “Great Wall” builder when prison is an inherently coercive environment and when a prisoner’s treatment depends on the goodwill of a sheriff supporting that wall? Are there no other educational and rehabilitation programs prisoners can participate in within the Commonwealth? And how can the fair treatment of our state’s sons and cousins be guaranteed if they are transported thousands of miles out-of-state?

The current wave of deportations is being executed without prioritizing the removal of truly dangerous individuals or concern for the destruction of families. It is also being carried out without regard for the previous administration’s promises to young people who grew up in the United States and know no other home. And this ideologically motivated purge is being done without regard for the economic impact the disappearance of thousands of workers will have. Worse, these reckless and cruel deportations are causing chaos and fear.

But we have an opportunity to restore tranquility and security.

I am not advocating anarchy or the selective application of law. We are indeed a nation of laws, but federal laws have their own scope and their own agents of enforcement, while the same is true of states. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts should not be compelled to effectively turn its law enforcement officials and county prisons into ICE agents and federal facilities.

I appreciate your consideration of this letter, and I hope you will give prompt and favorable attention to the bills I have endorsed. Thank you.

Sincerely,

[me]

bcso-ma.us

Tompuffery

Thomas M. Hodgson, a law enforcement and corrections professional with extensive management, marketing and business experience was appointed Sheriff of Bristol County, May 21, 1997 by Gov. William F. Weld and was sworn in officially June 2, 1997 by then Lt. Gov. Argeo Paul Cellucci.

In 1994, Sheriff Hodgson, a former Maryland Police Lieutenant for Special Operations, joined the staff of the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office and served as Deputy Superintendent of Investigations. He also served five years as a Councilor-at-Large on the New Bedford City Council.

Upon assuming the role of High Sheriff of Bristol County, Sheriff Hodgson immediately set out to implement his goals for corrections reform, public safety and raising the standards for the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office to enhance the primary mission of care and custody of inmates. He instituted structured disciplines for the inmate population and expanded the Work Release programs to include graffiti removal. Several years ago Sheriff Hodgson gained international attention when he instituted the Tandem Work Crew (tethered), a strictly voluntary program for medium security inmates. While initially controversial, these initiatives have proven highly successful over the long term in providing valuable services to and saving money for the cities and towns of Bristol County. The Tandem Work Crews continue to work in communities throughout the County. He banned tobacco products for staff and inmates, removed televisions and weight-lifting equipment from cells, donating the equipment to police departments and the local Boys and Girls Club. These activities were replaced with programs affording educational opportunities, spiritual assistance and vocational aptitude. Sheriff Hodgson implemented a Regional Lock-up at the Ash Street facility for the Bristol County Police Departments in 1998.

Sheriff Hodgson has been successful in bringing together a number of Law Enforcement/Public Safety agencies through the establishment of a Law Enforcement Collaborative, consisting of Bristol County Police Chiefs, State Police and UMASS Dartmouth Police, to share intelligence and resources. The Bristol County Sheriff’s Office is a member of the SouthCoast Anti-Crime Team (SCAT) utilizing the combined resources of the Sheriff’s Office and Police Departments to control the proliferation of drugs and other criminal activity in the area. In support of these efforts the Sheriff has also established a Warrant Apprehension Unit, Drug Task Force, Gang Unit and has assigned staff to the federal departments of DEA, ICE, and FBI.

In 1998 the Sheriff went to the Justice Department in Washington D.C. to be briefed on the growing national concern regarding terrorist activities and weapons of mass destruction. Since then he has become a leader in Homeland Security issues and has brought together public safety officials from Local, State and Police, Fire Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), National Guard, Coast Guard, FBI, TSA, other federal agencies, EMS and hospital groups, along with stakeholders from the private sector to form the Bristol County Homeland Security Task Force with the mission of training and preparing Bristol County to have the ability to develop and implement a cohesive response to a critical incident. It has always been the Sheriff’s belief that Public Safety First Responder Groups can best serve the community when working in a collaborative effort. The Sheriff has been invited to address groups throughout the country on the subject of anti-terrorism. The Bristol County Homeland Security Task Force meets monthly and has coordinated several major training exercises throughout the County.

Sheriff Hodgson designed and purchased a state-of-the-art Mobile Command Unit (Incident Command Center) that contains a sophisticated communication platform and other equipment that is available to every community in the County. Incident Command Center training for Police, Fire and Public Safety agencies is on-going, as is planning, implementation, and after action reports for table top exercises for Bristol County cities and towns.

School Programs: Sheriff Hodgson believes that early childhood intervention is the key to reducing the high rate of recidivism. He therefore has aggressively sought grant funding and implemented several school and youth programs, all of which have proven to be highly successful. SLAM (Students Learning a Message) provides the opportunity for student classes to be brought in to the facility for a tour and a presentation by inmates. CHOICES – inmates are taken to schools around the County to speak with students about the importance of making good choices. SAFE TO LEARN – provides training to school department staff, parents and students on proactive and reactive responses to school incidents involving violence or hostage situations. School audits and risk assessment are also provided as part of the program. N.B. JUVENILE COURT – designed to help teenagers overcome drug addiction, provided financial support and a full time coordinator. School training programs include Bullying Programs for school staff, students and parents. The I-SAFE program introduces teachers, administrators and students to internet safety and the many dangers children may be exposed to in Cyber Space. The program has been expanded to include I-SHIELD training for law enforcement personnel, enhancing training opportunities for the I-SAFE program in all communities. BCSO K-9 Unit demonstrations are frequently provided for children at schools and public safety events throughout the county.

Senior Programs: Sheriff Hodgson’s commitment to public safety also includes initiatives for the Senior Community. He has successfully implemented twelve TRIAD programs in Bristol County, namely Easton, Attleboro, North Attleboro, Rehoboth, Mansfield, Swansea, Seekonk, Somerset, New Bedford, Taunton, Fall River and Dartmouth. TRIAD is a collaborative for senior citizens introduced by the National Sheriff’s Association involving the Sheriff’s Department, Police Department and Council on Aging. Also implemented by Sheriff Hodgson is the “R.U.O.K.” Program in which senior citizens sign on to be telephoned every morning as part of a monitoring/response system; PROJECT LIFESAVER, a new bracelet-tracking-device system for Alzheimer patients, as well as the IRIS SCANNING PROGRAM, the latest innovation in identification technology being used to identify lost or missing persons and children. Identity Theft, Crime Awarenes and Disaster Preparedness Seminars have been presented at Senior Centers throughout Bristol County.

Sheriff Hodgson initiated an employee accountability system based on similar programs studied by the Sheriff and his staff at Broward County, Florida and Rikers Island, New York. The Strategic Accountability Management System (SAMS) is a management accountability system designed to hold employees accountable for the work they are performing and the subsequent results intended to encourage teamwork and achieve higher levels of efficiency. Great strides have been made and the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office has been awarded national Accreditation from the American Correctional Association for the Dartmouth House of Correction 2004 – 2007, the Women’s Center 2005 – 2008, and most recently, the Dartmouth House of Correction again for 2007 – 2010.

In 1998, Sheriff Hodgson signed a memorandum of agreement with Carlos Cesar, President of the Autonomous Regional Government of the Azores, Portugal.

Since that time, the Sheriff has worked with the Cesar Administration and now the administration of the newly elected President Vasco Cordeiro on developing reintegration programs for deportees returning to the Azores. Social workers from the Azores travelled to the United States to train with the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office social worker staff and have since developed protocols that have provided necessary information to Azorean authorities to make the deported individuals’ return and transition safer and more successful for the individuals and citizens of the Azores.

For the past three years, Sheriff Hodgson, through the generous support of local business owners, has hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for deportees living on the islands of Sao Miguel and Terceira. Children living in orphanages have also been treated to separate Thanksgiving dinners during the same time period.

Several crime prevention and personal safety programs have been introduced to residents in various villages, as well as programs targeting the needs of the elderly.

The Sheriff, working in collaboration with the Azorean Government and representatives of the University of the Azores, has integrated student volunteerism, targeting the needs of children and the elderly. Sheriff Hodgson was able through the generosity of local businesses in Bristol County to purchase a transportation van for the students to travel to various villages to conduct volunteer efforts.

Most recently, Sheriff Hodgson has been actively involved in supporting efforts to prevent force reduction at the United States Airbase in Terceira, Azores, meeting with members of Congress in Washington, D.C. to discuss options for continued full service operations and other options.

Sheriff Hodgson continues to remain actively involved with other sheriffs throughout the United States to call for careful and thoughtful immigration reform with an initial emphasis on securing our borders and points of entry.

Sheriff Hodgson and his wife Jo-Anne reside in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

Contact Information:

Thomas M. Hodgson

Bristol County Sheriff’s Office 400 Faunce Corner Road North Dartmouth, MA 02747 Tel: (508) 995-1311 email: info@bcso-ma.org

A #BlackLivesMatter banner hangs over City Hall in Somerville, Massachusetts. The police union wants it taken down, but Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone is keeping it flying – right next to another one supporting dead officers.

Black Lives Matter (BLM) has grown enormously. It has popped up all over the US and Canada, and there are spinoffs in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Brazil, and India – wherever racist policing occurs. BLM has thousands of white allies and includes just about every minority affected by discriminatory policing and the prison pipeline.

To describe it as a Black Nationalist movement is just plain wrong.

So, when Derryck Green in Monday’s op-eds describes BLM as a revolutionary terrorist organization and tries to link it with violent Black Nationalism, one can only scratch one’s head and smile. Except that libelous misinformation like this is not funny – though it is par for the course from conservatives.

To be certain, BLM is ideological. It is strident. It has goals. It will not be silenced. Its website cites Black activists whose voices do not necessarily come out of Black churches – but from the streets, from political struggle, and from progressive movements.

Green acknowledges that Micah Xavier Johnson, a cop-killer, was never a member of BLM – but this doesn’t stop him from nevertheless trying to link Johnson to BLM in the next several paragraphs. And Johnson is also a convenient starting point for smearing all activists. Next on Green’s conservative hit list – President Obama, who at one point was a community organizer – or as Green writes, an “agitator.”

Next Green tries to set up a straw man by writing that everyone thinks of BLM as a part of the Civil Rights movement, but that it lacks the moral underpinnings.

Excuse me? Who said that?

Basically, Green just doesn’t like these young black “belligerent” upstarts. He resents their “celebration of black racial pride and solidarity.” (is this really such a bad thing?) If Green were not a black man himself, I’d almost expect the word “uppity” to pop out of his mouth.

Green accuses BLM of “increasingly violent” demands. This is nothing but empty rhetoric.

What’s violent is the epidemic of killings of black people.

Green says that BLM has “peddled lies” about the number of blacks killed by cops. More nonsense. The Washington Post and the Guardian (UK) have had to create databases to track police shootings for the last two years. And Neill Franklin, a 34-year Maryland State Police veteran, has an online petition asking Congress to start a national database.

Why? Because our society doesn’t care enough about black lives to officially track the body count. But we do have preliminary figures – and they’re shocking.

As Somerville Mayor Curtatone’s principled actions show, support for police reform does not have to come at the expense of support for local police. We may never see “Officer Friendly” again, patrolling on foot and stopping by at the local soda fountain, but most Americans want our police officers to be neighbors and treat us like neighbors – not hound us like an occupation force. Most Americans want fair sentencing for crimes – and recognize that no one wins by putting people in “the system” for life.

Many white Americans are happy with their local police forces, and most are good, decent officers. But it can be a totally different story for Black Americans. BLM’s demands reflect this different reality in a racist society and are absolutely correct and needed. And “moral” as well, Mr. Green.

Derryck Green and his fellow conservatives will no doubt be profoundly disappointed by the “lack of courageous condemnation of Black Lives Matter by good and decent people” as the movement continues to grow and attract allies.

But most “good and decent people” would agree – a broken tail light should never be the prelude to what has now become the obscenely routine shooting of an unarmed black person.

Jack Spillane didn’t get it quite right in his Sunday editorial (“We want police who are better than ourselves”). When society so persistently ignores police abuse, it seems clear that we want violent cops.

Jack correctly points out cases in which young local men have been stopped for questionable reasons or where they have been neglected when forcefully, and fatally, restrained. Mr. Spillane also correctly commends the independent investigations that followed cases that brought grief to families and community, and says that the investigators got it right both times. Hm. Maybe.

But then he writes: “we want our cops to be better than the members of the public they police.” And he immediately gives the poorly-trained policemen, and the police forces that do not reflect the makeup of the communities they police, a free pass. “We want them to have the skills to quickly defuse a situation. That’s not always possible.” Citing Jack Nicholson’s character, Major Jessup, in “A Few Good Men,” Spillane writes: “You can’t handle the truth! The truth being that there are bad guys in the world. And that overwhelming force is sometimes needed to control those bad guys.”

Even though he is 100% wrong, Spillane is close to the issue.

The issue is that we as a society do not wish to tinker with the brutality, the militarism, the authoritarianism, and the lack of accountability of the police. The same goes for our refusal to rein in the abuses of the national security institutions. The same goes for our refusal to hold accountable those who unleash torture, kidnapping, assassinations, reckless wars, and rampant “collateral damage” on civilians. The same goes for our refusal to hold accountable those in the military on whose watch abuses at Abu Ghraib, Kandahar, and elsewhere took place. Indeed, this is Major Jessup’s world.

Whether we can or cannot handle the truth, the truth is – we are a violent, racist society. We know we are. How many wars have we started and how many people have we killed in the last 50 years? How many murders do we permit because we refuse reasonable controls on weapons? What kind of society leads the world in incarceration of its own citizens? What kind of people permit gruesome executions with mystery cocktails to be carried out in secrecy? We are almost unique in the Western world for our barbarity.

A police officer, no matter how friendly he is when he stops you, the middle class white, still has the power to end a young poor, black or Hispanic life in an instant – and what will you say? Regrettable. Tragic. Sometimes “these things” happen? Lip service. And what does society say? Oh well, collateral damage in the very necessary war against bad guys. More lip service, Jack.

Mr. Spillane concludes that we pay the police to protect us from ourselves. Not quite. We pay the police to maintain control over those we fear the most – the poor, the immigrant, the politically suspect, the “other.” It is not a coincidence that the police are also interested in middle class whites if they happen to belong to environmental or political groups. Look at the police violence we saw during the height of the Occupy Wall Street movement. This is not the police protecting us from ourselves. This is the police terrorizing society.

Last week we witnessed shocking displays of defiance and unaccountability toward the New York City mayor and the people of that city by policemen attending a funeral. Their “thin blue” loyalty toward one another is apparently wider, and stronger, than to their employers.

We need the police, but we need police who are part of the communities they serve, represent the makeup of those communities, are accountable to them, and do not run roughshod over those communities. That would be a start.

This was published in the Standard Times on January 7, 2015
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20150107/opinion/150109514

While emptying a service revolver into Michael Brown was bad enough, there is a fear that his killer may get away with it – one more “justified” police killing of an unarmed citizen. It’s impunity that has many people upset. Police impunity is just another of the many forms of injustice that roils this country.

“Our Constitution works. Our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men,” said Gerald Ford – right before pardoning Nixon for all the laws he had broken.

Nixon in turn pardoned Jimmy Hoffa and William Calley, the only soldier held accountable for the massacre of 500 people in My Lai, Viet Nam.

Reagan pardoned Nixon’s FBI burglars.

Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, a fugitive donor to Clinton’s presidential library and his wife’s Senate campaign, as well as his own brother, Roger, on federal drug charges.

George Bush (Sr.) pardoned the ringleaders of the Iran-Contra Affair, which included Reagan’s National Security Advisor and Secretary of Defense.

Bush Junior commuted the meager 30 month sentence given to Irving (Scooter) Libby for leaking the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame.

Aside from pardons, which are often a professional courtesy extended to former administrations, not even the most severe criminal acts by political leaders are ever investigated or prosecuted.

The US may have played a role in the show trials in Nuremberg, but now it refuses to be bound by the World Court. The US uses its UN Security Council veto to shield itself from charges of war crimes and human rights abuses. International law is for quiche-eating foreigners, not us.

CIA kidnapping, murder and torture have gone unpunished. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lied to Congress about spying on citizens. The CIA destroyed torture tapes and spied on a Senate team investigating it. And nothing ever happens. A president lies to the nation about weapons of mass destruction. Nothing happens. A famous general takes those lies to the United Nations. Nothing happens. Whistleblowers are hounded for exposing lies. Nothing happens – except to the whistleblower. The FBI kills hundreds of people over several decades and not one agent is ever disciplined for an unjust shooting.

But if government impunity is well-understood, so is that of corporations and the very wealthy.

A July article in Forbes reported: “Six of the 60 richest families in the country include heirs who have killed, raped or sexually abused someone. The circumstances of the tragedies vary — some were accidental car crashes and others were deliberate crimes. But one thing was consistent: the perpetrators hardly received any punishment.”

Deregulation, preferential tax rates or forgiveness, special laws giving corporations “religious” rights to ignore laws that others have to follow – all these diminish our ability to hold accountable anyone other than the average citizen. The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are people, but when was the last time you saw one in jail? – in a nation that incarcerates more humans than any other.

And in the rare case where corporate misbehavior is so egregious that token punishment is unavoidable – JPMorgan Chase and British Petroleum come to mind – it turns out even their fines are tax-deductible.

No, laws are only for citizens. This is why the average guy is spied upon, stopped and frisked, and incarcerated in record numbers, especially if he is Black or political or both.

When a police officer violates the law, assaults or kills a citizen, commits violations of the Constitution (locking up journalists, preventing people from legal assembly, stopping and frisking for no reason, or insisting on a suspicion-less search) – they put themselves above the law. Unfortunately, there is actually very little meaningful community oversight of police departments. Most internal police misconduct investigations are done with little transparency, and the outcomes are predictable. Rogue cops often keep on abusing citizens.

If we truly want to be a nation of laws, we need to insist that those who make and uphold the laws and claim to be protecting us – follow the same laws. If not, they should be given orange jump suits like any other criminal.

We may be a nation of laws, but impunity engenders lawlessness when some of us are above the law.

This was published in the Standard Times on August 25, 2014
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20140825/opinion/408250313

Every 28 hours police kill another Black man in the United States. In Ferguson, Missouri, an unarmed Black man, Michael Brown, stole cigars from a convenience store and may or may not have been stopped for this reason by a policeman who emptied his service revolver into Brown.

The Standard Time’s editorial on Brown’s killing correctly highlights the racial elements of police encounters in America today. The images of Ferguson’s police officers with their M16’s, MRAP (IED-resistant armed personnel carrier), and all the other Homeland Security-funded toys used against the community, shocked those who still remember Montgomery and Selma during Jim Crow.

Ferguson police acted as if they were at war with the Black community and journalists – acting as occupiers, not patrolmen. Armaments of war were employed. Journalists were arrested as they filed stories from a local McDonald’s. Police hauled an alderman from his car and roughed him up. They tear-gassed one group of journalists and dismantled their equipment. News helicopters were banned, journalists were bullied and prevented from covering the demonstrations, and police ignored the 72-hour requirement to publish a report of Michael Brown’s killing.

None of this is a surprise to any minority community. Police “serve” Whites differently than others. Recall the kid-gloves treatment that Cliven Bundy’s White supporters received from law enforcement – especially shocking since Bundy’s supporters had sniper rifles trained on them. But militarization of the police affects everyone, not just minorities. We saw it during the Boston Marathon bombing. We saw it during the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, when police throughout the country used tear gas, water cannons, TASERs, and concussion grenades against protestors, denying them rights of assembly and speech.

Radley Balko writes in his “Rise of the Warrior Cop,” that 30 years ago only about a quarter of small towns had SWAT teams. Today, even with lower crime rates, that number is close to 90%. But when you have a big hammer, you have to pound every nail with it. According to Pete Kraska, a professor of Justice Studies in Kentucky, SWAT teams are deployed 137 times a day in the US. SWAT raids are used for everything from delivering a summons to raiding a house where marijuana might be found. Many innocent people have been killed in these raids. And not once has a policemen been held accountable.

Police, including most of our local forces, are armed with TASERS, which send 50,000 volts of electricity via a dart into a human’s nervous system. TASERS have been associated with hundreds of deaths, particularly when repeatedly used on mentally ill, convulsing, non English-speaking, or drugged civilians who cannot “comply” with an officer’s command. YouTube is full of dashcam videos of mouthy White suburban moms who have been tased for basically their “attitude” at roadside stops. Where once an officer was forced to de-escalate an incident with an upset person, mainly by just listening, now he can just blast him with 50,000 volts and slap on the handcuffs.

Funding all this expensive gear (via your tax dollars) is the Law Enforcement Support Office, an obscure federal agency that outfits police forces with military surplus. Similarly, the Defense Logistics Agency has an office whose motto is “from warfighter to crimefighter” and which also provides police with state of the art war gear. The Justice Department, too, has a program to transition veterans, many of whom have PTSD, into positions as police officers. All this has cost taxpayers $35 billion but communities are further on the hook for costs of upgrades and maintenance of these systems, which also include spy gear like “Stingrays,” which gather information from people’s cellphones.

The net result is that we are no longer being served by police forces that look like us, grew up with us, or even necessarily live among us. Certainly this is the case in Ferguson, 70% Black with a police department 95% White. Nationally it is true as well.

That’s because the goal is no longer the protection, but something nearer the occupation of citizens – all of us – by a government that increasingly distrusts its own citizens.

And this is the very definition of a Police State.