Local Departments Fortify Police State With Armored Personnel Carriers

All across the country, preparations are being made for a massive assault on an enemy that has yet to be publicly defined. The preparations involve the procurement of Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) or Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs), military equipment, and tactical training. These preparations, however, are not being undertaken by the US military in response to a potential outside invasion but, instead, by local police departments towards what one must logically assume is a domestic threat.

Indeed, police and sheriff’s departments all across the country, from Michigan and Ohio to Texas, California to Idaho to South Carolina, and from Maine to Florida are hardening their forces with militarized body armor, weaponry, tactical gear, and APCs coming straight from the US military at bargain prices.

But who, exactly, is the enemy that American police must feel the need to become so battle-hardened against? Even if one were to, for the sake of argument, allow the ridiculous narrative of the threats of domestic terrorism to be true, where are the armies of Muslim fundamentalists inside of America? Or are the police actually preparing to defend American citizens against some foreign military invasion by another major power?

The answer, of course, is none of the above. American police are not being trained to defend the American public – they are being trained to oppress them. In other words, the enemy for which local police departments all across the country are preparing to engage in outright combat against is the American people themselves.

Yet it is not merely the major cities of America that have been procuring military APCs/MRAPs as many may initially suspect. Even smaller rural police and sheriff’s departments have been obtaining APCs/MRAPs with no justifiable reason for doing so.

For instance, while larger counties like Richland County, South Carolina (to which Columbia belongs) have recently procured an APC (complete with a machine gun turret that fires .50 caliber rounds), smaller areas like Florence, South Carolina have done the same. Even small towns like Chickasaw Alabama and small rural counties like Marion County, South Carolina have gotten in on the act, as well as universities like Ohio State University and UC Berkley.

Indeed, as police departments spend taxpayer money to procure APCs and other military-related equipment, the truth of the matter is that such equipment serves no real purpose outside of a military combat zone. After all, the sole purpose of an APC is to transport military personnel to and from combat zones in a protected fashion.

Although many police departments will argue that APCs will be used to do the same for police during a hostage or standoff situation, one must ask where is the actual combat zone? To most Americans, (except for those living in Chicago perhaps), it might come as quite the surprise that America is considered a combat zone worthy of needing APCs for transportation.

Of course, it should be noted that, even after arriving at the scene of the hostage taking or standoff, police would then still have to exit the vehicle to deal with it and put themselves in harm’s way as a result. Thus, the idea of requiring armored protection on the way TO a standoff situation is null and void.

Indeed, whenever APCs are used during a live situation, the police who are allegedly using the vehicle for their protection are often seen riding on the outside of the vehicle, thus negating the entire purpose of the vehicle.

Yet APCs, despite their uselessness in legitimate hostage situations, are becoming increasingly common not just by the fact that police departments are acquiring more and more of them but also by their use.

Of course, the very fact that police departments are not only procuring but using APCs and related weaponry against its citizens, particularly non-violent, unarmed, ones, is the clear signal of a police state. However, if police departments are procuring such vehicles out of the “cool” factor where police merely gather new and more powerful toys (as some have argued) then the police departments are guilty of grossly wasting taxpayer money during a time of economic depression. Some argue that it is like insurance – you hope you never have to use it but it’s there if you do. Thus, police departments, at best, are flushing large amounts of money down the toilet for their own entertainment or, at worst, ramping up the full implementation of a domestic police state.

Again, the answer is obvious. Law Enforcement has never simply acquired weaponized “eye candy” that they do not intend to use. True to form, the use of APCs by domestic police is already occurring and it is rapidly on the rise.

As Radley Balko of Reason.com writes,

One of the most appalling cases occurred in Maricopa County, Arizona, the home of Joe Arpaio, self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff in America.” In 2004 one of Arpaio’s SWAT teams conducted a bumbling raid in a Phoenix suburb. Among other weapons, it used tear gas and an armored personnel carrier that later rolled down the street and smashed into a car. The operation ended with the targeted home in flames and exactly one suspect in custody–for outstanding traffic violations.

In addition, according to Raw Story, Dallas County, Texas Sheriff’s Department has stated that its new APC will be used for the purposes of serving warrants.

As the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center reports, “on May 11, 2006, Champaign police received a call from Garden Hills, about Carl “Dennis” Stewart, a suicidal black man alone in his car with a gun. The Champaign police called out the SWAT team and rolled out their prized Armored Personnel Carrier. After a four-hour standoff, Stewart was chased down the street by the APC. Cornered by police, he put the gun to his head and killed himself.”

Unfortunately, events such as the three listed above are becoming more and more common in a country that still ironically boasts of being the freest in the world. Routinely used in SWAT team raids APCs/MRAPS have now become ubiquitous in the world of law enforcement and American life. Scarcely do they even warrant a mention when raids are reported in media outlets.

Clearly, the police are no longer tasked with even the pretense of protecting and serving the American public. Indeed, official police training literature and analysis reports consistently list both normal and informed American citizens as potential terrorists, thus reinforcing the “us vs. them” mentality running rampant throughout law enforcement organizations all across the country.

With such benign behavior as supporting specific political candidates, paying for coffee with cash, having “apocalyptic religious beliefs,” and even possessing a pair of socks as potential domestic terrorism, the police have been successfully trained to view the American citizen as both a threat and a danger to the law and order of the state. While the police may not be actual foreign military troops, they are without a doubt an occupying force which sees the general public as a subject population. Thus, the population is a threat which they seek to extinguish.

Regardless, whether or not the police actively take advantage of their new-found military equipment, the mere possession of what amounts to a military tank minus the cannon (although machine gun turrets are often a part of the vehicle) can be used as a method of intimidation to any citizen considering dissent against the current power structure.

Indeed, in many totalitarian societies of the past, it was the perceived domination and power of the state – not the actual power – which kept millions of people in check. There is no doubt that the visual image of APCs/MRAPs on the streets of America, occasionally serving warrants and supporting SWAT raids, is an intimidating and threatening image and an ever-present reminder of the power of the State.[1]

The presence of APCs on American streets is clearly not an organic or isolated incident. As Wendy McElroy writes, “it is part of a well-funded, coordinated federal program called Operation Urban Shield.” Essentially Operation Urban Shield is a program designed to train law enforcement to impose martial law . . . and American citizens to accept it. Such was clearly the case in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. Police in full combat gear were scarcely identifiable from the actual military marched through the streets of Boston complete with riflemen posted in gun turrets mounted on APCs/MRAPs. Likewise, APCs were a close companion during Occupy peaceful protests.

It is important to understand that whenever one witnesses simultaneous events taking place in seemingly unrelated parts of the world, or even the local scene, seldom is that series of events merely coincidence. It is almost always the signal of a carefully coordinated and orchestrated agenda taking shape after years of backstage planning.

Still, one should wonder just what law enforcement organizations are preparing for and why they believe they need to be outfitted with Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles and APCs. If even cursory research is conducted, it will clearly reveal that it is because those at the top level of society have a very grim vision of the future.

Here is an advertisement and demonstration of a BearCat as made by Lenco:

Notes:

[1] Wolf, Naomi. The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot. Chelsea Green Publishing. 2007. http://www.amazon.com/The-End-America-Warning-Patriot/dp/1933392797

Read other articles by Brandon Turbeville here.