-Caveat Lector-
"Can Soldiers Be Peace Officers?
The Waco Disaster and
The Militarization of American Law Enforcement"
by David B. Kopel and Paul M. Blackman
One of the most significant trends of federal law enforcement in the last
fifteen years has been its militarization. The logical, perhaps inevitable,
consequence of that militarization was seen in the disaster at Waco, Texas,
resulting in the deaths of four federal agents, and seventy-six other men,
women, and children. In this article, we use the Waco tragedy as a starting
point to examine the militarization of federal law enforcement, and similar
trends at the state and local level.
Part Two of this article sets forth the details and rationale of the Posse
Comitatus Act--the 1878 law forbidding use of the military in law
enforcement.
Part Three explicates how that Act was eroded by the drug war in the 1980s.
The article then discusses how the drug exception to the Posse Comitatus Act
was used to procure major military support for the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) raid against the Branch Davidians--even though
there was no real drug evidence against them--and how the drug exceptions to
the Posse Comitatus Act [ http://www.posse-comitatus.org/ ] have made such
abuses endemic.
Part Four examines the fifty-one day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian
residence, with a focus on the destructive role played by the FBI's Hostage
Rescue Team, an essentially military force which has proved
counterproductive in a civilian law enforcement context.(p.620)
In Part Five we look at the problem of groupthink, its role in the Waco
tragedy, and the importance of keeping groupthink-prone institutions--like
the military--out of law enforcement.
Finally, Part Six offers a broader view of the problem of the militarization
of federal law enforcement. We examine the proliferation of federal
paramilitary units and federal efforts to promote the militarization of
state and local law enforcement. After explaining the direct connection
between the drug "war" and law enforcement militarization, we propose
numerous statutory remedies to demilitarize law enforcement.
Soldiers are not peace officers.
At all levels of policing, it is time that police officers be restored to
their honored status as peace officers.
Police ethicist John Kleinig notes: "Were police to see themselves primarily
as social peace-keepers, they would be less inclined to 'overkill' in their
dealings with both ordinary citizens and those whose disruptive activities
properly require their intervention."[186]
To help prevent future Wacos, and the needless loss of life of law
enforcement personnel and other persons, law enforcement in the United
States should be demilitarized.
Cicero's advice to the Roman republic, "Let the soldier give way to the
civilian,"[187] must be heeded by those who are intent on preserving the
American republic, and the rule of civil law.
Read the entire Article, at:
http://www.2ndlawlib.org/other/kbmilpol.html#h2
Bard
Visit me at:
The Center for Exposing Corruption in the Federal Government
http://www.xld.com/public/center/center.htm
Federal Government defined:
....a benefit/subsidy protection racket!
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