Following up on yesterday's most encouraging Huffington post story, both the Standard and the Tribune report this morning that our local Utah American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) "affiliate" has apparently teamed up with its "parent" ACLU national organization, in the latter organization's "better late than never," nation-wide investigatory campaign to "determine the extent to which local police departments are using federally subsidized military technology and tactics that are traditionally used [only] overseas":
- ACLU wants info on ‘militarization’ of Utah police
- ACLU requests records from law enforcement agencies for number of times SWAT teams are used
In the midst of the recent flurry of local and national stories exposing the disturbing trend toward a scenario where "American neighborhoods are increasingly being policed by cops armed with the weapons and tactics of war," we're delighted to observe the ACLU's much needed, albeit belated, high profile entry into this soon-to-be-blossoming political fray.
Many concerned American citizens have been asking the question, "What the hell's happening with our formerly trustworthy local police agencies?"
We'll incorporate with our hearty approval the summary comments from "Huffpo source" "Cheye Calvo, the mayor of Berwyn Heights, Md., who was the victim of a highly publicized mistaken raid on his home in which a Prince George's County SWAT team shot and killed his two black Labradors":
"I wish the ACLU success," Calvo said. "And I suspect that once they force the police agencies to cooperate, they'll find that this problem is even more dramatic and pronounced than most people know. But then the question is, now what? Even if you can show that people are being victimized and terrorized by these tactics -- and to no good end -- if no one cares, then what does it matter?"Hopefully, with the full resources of the ACLU (and its affiliates) employed in focusing on this effort, we'll soon get to the bottom of this mess. Whether our government-compliant populace will ever find the political will to actually do anything about it is of course anybody's guess.
For starters though, we need an answer to the basic general question, we suppose:
Don't let your cat get your tongues.
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