re: "Militarization of the Police" discussion

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Just like our military, I want the cops to have superior fire power to the criminals. And they should be held accountable for when they screw the pooch.

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Was a cop for over 33 years and this statement is truly how it should be.

Look I know for a fact (yes did time on a tactical team) that bad guys often have firepower that rivals or exceed the average cop on the street and often many tactical teams. I just need to refer to 2009 and Lovell Mixon using a fully auto AK-47 to kill four Oakland Police Officers (2 were SWAT members wearing ceramic entry gear) or the 1997 North Hollywood Bank shootout (which actually began LE's push for military grade gear). Now I'm not saying such is the case in Ferguson (If LE was fired upon during demonstrations, expect such a response.)

I completely agree 100% that if a cop "screws the pooch" and it can be proven they acted outside the law under the color of authority or in an unconstitutional, illegal or immoral way thus breaching the trust of the public they MUST BE HELD COMPLETELY ACCOUNTABLE and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

One last thing which I'm sure will draw some finger pointing. We as a community, can not truly expect total justice, when we demonstrate only when LE shoots an unarmed young man of color, but turn a blind eye to young men of the same color killing each other (armed or unarmed) at such an alarming rate. This does not/has not applied to just the young Black men of our generation-I am first generation Sicilian/American. Just check the news papers from the 20's-50's. Young Sicilian men were mired in the same type of life style without complaint.