The Country that Fears its Citizens !

No !  Its not one of those tiny little republics between Mexico and South America and it is not that huge land ruled by Vladimir  Putin.  The country that is being turned into  a vast prison ruled by its police force is that most democratic founder of freedom and justice, the United States of America.

There were two major events that so scared the ruling elite on Capitol Hill that they granted extended police powers to rule the streets by force.   The first was the Watts riots of August 11-16 1965 when injustice against African Americans boiled over and vast sections of Los Angeles were first looted and then put to the torch.  Miles of shops and warehouses became blackened shells. Raging mobs of black people threatened the lives of the citizens of that great city.

The second was a bank robbery in Hollywood on February 28, 1997.   Two bank robbers donned body armour and armed with assault rifles expected to rob a bank and escape before police intervened.  A police car on its way to pickup lunch  spotted them entering the bank and police were waiting when they emerged.

The police were armed with revolvers and one shotgun and it was an uneven fight. A number of police and civilians were seriously wounded and the police were pinned down until an armoured money truck arrived and gave them cover.  It was a public humiliation and while law and order eventually triumphed, the police from that time became armed with assault rifles and the military equipment that saw them become an internal armed force that now rivals the American army and the Marines.

The change is clearly evident by just watching the news service.  Should a motorist jump a red light, the pursuit quickly moves from a single pursuing police car to a cavalcade of black and whites and the arrest is carried out by a small army of heavily armed officers.  It involves the use of force and the offender is exhibited to the news cameras like a rare hunting trophy.

All this is becoming clear to Australian audiences as they follow the trial of a Minneapolis police officer charged with shooting a woman who called police to report suspicion of a nearby assault. When Justice Damond, clad in pyjamas - approaching the arriving police car one of the officers leaned across the driver and shot her through the side window,   It appears the police were unnerved by the prospect of this becoming an ambush and such is the relationship between the police and the public that is not an unusual occurrence.

This officer was then advised by his colleagues to " keep his mouth shut " and may choose to never give evidence in court.  The police unions are very powerful in America and in many similar cases the outcome is usually the police action being justified, irrespective of a threat to the officer not being proved.

The prevalence of guns in the hands of the American public is blamed for this increasing police militancy, but policing is a dangerous job here in Australia where firearms are heavily controlled. Police firepower has increased to deal with the terrorist threat.  Hopefully, Australian police will never evolve into some sort of occupying army as it now is in America.