Written by: Carey Wedler at theantimedia
NEW YORK, NY- NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton announced Thursday that 350 heavily armed NYPD officers, called the “Strategic Response Group,” will soon be patrolling protests and the city at large.
He said the new strain of hyper-armed police will be
“…equipped and trained in ways that our normal patrol officers are not. They’ll be equipped with all the extra heavy protective gear, with the long rifles and machine guns — unfortunately sometimes necessary in these instances.”
Bratton announced their purpose is specifically
“…designed for dealing with events like our recent protests, or incidents like Mumbai or what just happened in Paris.”
Lumping protesters in with terrorists, he said the permanent force will deal with “disorder control and counterterrorism protection capabilities.” It willallegedly assist on crime scenes and help with “crowd control and other large-scale events.”
It is not unusual for authorities to ramp up “security” efforts following attacks (such as the ax attack against officers in October), but the idea of machine-gun clad officers is disturbing, especially considering past NYPD abuses of protesters and other residents.
The federal government, which has attempted to feign concern with police brutality, is partially funding the militarized venture. The Department of Homeland Security is supplying resources, as is the city of New York. ThePentagon has previously provided machine guns, ammuniton, and other military gear to New York police and other local cops around the country.
The program is set to begin with two precincts in Queens and two in Manhattan, though Bratton did not specify when. During the announcement at a Police Foundation breakfast at the Mandarin Hotel, Bratton also said hisplan was backed by both Mayor Bill de Blasio (who came under firefrom cops last year) and the city council.
He said the effort is intended to improve police relations with communities since “regular” police will no longer be called from their local precincts to deal with protests and alleged security threats:
“For years we’ve been asking our officers to engage in the community, but we’ve never given them time to do it, or the training.”
Such “crises” will now be handled by the machine gunning cops (machine guns are banned for private citizens). Bratton has also previously asked the city for more tasers to “improve relations” by reducing fatal shootings.
Unsurprisingly, there is outrage against the proposed plan. Priscilla Gonzalez, Organizing Director of Communities United for Police Reform,said Bratton’s
“…demands for less oversight of the NYPD and a more militarized police force that would use counter-terrorism tactics against protesters are deeply misguided and frankly offensive. We need an NYPD that is more accountable to New Yorkers and that stops criminalizing our communities, especially when people are taking to the streets to voice legitimate concerns about discriminatory and abusive policing. Despite growing evidence that discriminatory broken windows is a failed and harmful policing strategy, Commissioner Bratton stubbornly continues to defend and expand it.”
The move comes as crime has dropped in New York and the police ticket-writing boycott in protest of Mayor de Blasio led to no increase in conflict.
First the label you a “Protestor” then a “Radical” and then a “Terrorist” if you don’t tow the party line, Looks like now they are just skipping to the end.
What did we expect. These cities keep having fake shootings, seems like every week and this is the result, the Police get more and more hardware etc., and we move closer to the eventual police state, if indeed that is their agenda.
“My Name Is Nobody” I loved that movie when I was a kid. 🙂
These guys dont look American
These guys dont look American!
Thank God for the tiny little bits of brightness that show through the daily darkness. A move like this, any move like this, is welcomed, and I hope police departments across the nation catch on to this strategy. Better Armed Police = Better Protected Citizens. I love it.
A few more pushes here, a couple pushes there, and maybe a violent little shove is all we need for an honest revolutionary spirit to grip people here. It is unlikely I know unless, of course, McDonald’s shuts down. But as it is slowly whittled away, liberty may actually be closer now than ever before in my 42 years.
what do i keep telling you america IS A FACIST COUNTRY WHOM ALL POLITICIANS AND JUDGES ARE BOUGHT AND OWNED BY CORPORATIONS, ZIONIST ISRAEL AND THE ROTHSCHILD BANKERS. PEACEFUL PROTEST WILL NEVER AND HAS NEVER TRULY WORKED. ARM YOURSELF AND FIGHT BACK, REMEMBER THE FIRST REVOLUTION? TELL ME HOW THAT WAS WON BY HOLDING SIGNS AND SENDING PETITIONS TO KING GEORGE?
you think its any better anywhere else in the world? Money controls the world, as trivial as it may be. Eliminate the money (or at least its worth) and they will find something else to barter over. And the British fired the first shot for our American revolution to begin (shot heard around the world). Those police aren’t shooting anyone. At least we know now that they didn’t. Its assholes like you that ruin free speech because you think you need a weapon to get your message across. YOU are the reason they bring automatic weapons and why I carry a gun everywhere I go. Stay out of their crosshairs, and mine.
I Think the only way to stop this is for people to stop joining the police. It’s against the constitution for armed forces to be used against US citizens, this is just a way to do it by the back door. The problem is that mass media had made you so damn scared of your neighbour that the average American will welcome this with open arms. Sad really
They aren’t an armed militia. They are police. Americans still have the right to raise a militia so we win and yes, the government can federalize any standing army to use to “restore order”, Ever hear of martial law? What is it with the morons position on this site? EDUCATE YOURSELF, GET INVOLVED, CHANGE THINGS. Stupidity begets stupidity, if america thinks its people are stupid they are going to keep taking rights away.
They’re waiting for ISIS to show up and crash the party.
Okay, this is clearly from the Onion. This cant be for real. If it is, I’m done…. gonna buy a sailboat and live at sea.
Yep, I be the sailboat off the port bow! Now…where to sail to?