Our Militarized Police

The local Louisville FOX-affiliate aired a report boosting police snipers. The story talked up local SWAT teams and compared their training and actions to the movie "American Sniper". I am skeptical about the militarization of local police. The people in hometown USA are not suicide bombers in Iraq. Years ago, when I was living in Nashville, I watched the TV coverage of a local policeman who was vying for the affections of a female officer and had a fight with another male officer who was his romantic rival,firing random shots in a neighborhood near homes, a church, a school, and a daycare. In spite of the fact that the cop was endangering hundreds of lives, his colleagues who were surrounding him never fired but talked him down until he dropped his weapon. I have also watched reports of Nashville Metro police killing suspects without hesitation who were not armed with anything but the vehicle they were driving. I am deeply troubled by hyper-aggressive policing that treats the public as the enemy of police.

Not a "Shootout"

The main stream media has in certain instances taken to calling police shooting down unarmed civilians "shootouts". For purposes of clarification, a "shootout" involves two armed sides firing weapons at each other. When an African-American woman with a baby in her car is gunned down by trigger-happy police in Washington, D.C., no "shootout" has occurred, no matter what reporters say. If the woman had a gun and fired it before police shot back, that would be a shootout. When a terrified and confused woman, has her foot slip off her brake and her car inches forward and then several officers fire numerous rounds at her, that is not a "shootout". Police have recently killed several other unarmed people with so-called journalists saying "shootouts" have occurred. When the police are the only ones doing the shooting, it may or may not be justified, but it is definitely not a "shootout".