Apparently, Mayor Bloomberg was at MIT speechifying, "and began characterizing City Hall as the perfect preparation for the White House because it allowed him to buck the Beltway establishment [and] get real on-the-ground knowledge."
This is what really grabbed me, though:
"I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world."
Mayor Bloomberg may have had one of those moments when he accidentally tells a truth larger than he intended, because, upon reflection, he has been acting like a guy with an army and insufficient accountability for how he uses it. The army that Mayor Bloomberg ordered out into the field has been harassing and brutalizing peaceful protesters. Bloomberg's army has also been harrassing, brutalizing and arresting reporters as they try to do their jobs - which is an important part of getting the public the information that it needs to provide accountability for Mayor Bloomberg's actions. Speaking of unaccountable power, the army that Bloomberg orders into the field has also arrested, injured and jailed without access to an attorney a member of New York's City Council who was at an Occupy event to observe and represent his community.
More over the squiggle...
Apparently we have reached a point in the militarization of American police forces that any city mayor in a fit of hubris can turn into a tinpot despot can unleash a military strike force replete with all the latest weapons and training of modern war against anyone who irks them, including non-violent protesters exercising their legitimate constitutional rights. This is what Mayor Bloomberg did to Occupy Wall Street and what Mayor Quan ordered for OWS Oakland and has played out in cities across the country and even on college campuses.
As the former Seattle police chief, Norm Stamper, who presided over (and has since repented of his ill-considered actions at) the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting popularly known as "the battle of Seattle," puts it:
“It is clearly an abuse of tear gas when it is used against passive demonstrators who are taking part in acts of civil disobedience which are such a rich part of our democracy,” Stamper observed. “Today it is being used indiscriminately and that is really appalling.”
“We should recognize that we are a tool of community in the advancement of public safety and good. Police today have lost sight of their purpose.”
How the hell did we come to this?
Here's a quote from a fine article (that I recommend that you read in full) in The Atlantic that points out some pertinent information:
Ever since September 14, 2001, when President Bush declared war on terrorism, there has been a crucial, yet often unrecognized, shift in United States policy. Before 9/11, law enforcement possessed the primary responsibility for combating terrorism in the United States. Today, the military is at the tip of the anti-terrorism spear. This shift appears to be permanent: in 2006, the White House's National Strategy for Combating Terrorism confidently announced that the United States had "broken old orthodoxies that once confined our counterterrorism efforts primarily to the criminal justice domain."
In an effort to remedy their relative inadequacy in dealing with terrorism on U.S. soil, police forces throughout the country have purchased military equipment, adopted military training, and sought to inculcate a "soldier's mentality" among their ranks. Though the reasons for this increasing militarization of American police forces seem obvious, the dangerous side effects are somewhat less apparent.
I wish that I could fairly quote more of this article and I urge you to read it. The article goes on to detail the traditional distinctions between a "peace officer," whose job is to keep the peace and protect the civil rights of all citizens, even those who may have done bad things and a soldier whose job is to go into battle situations and quickly determine who is the enemy, kill the enemy and either protect or at least not kill those that are not enemies. That clear distinction points out the dangers of militarizing police.
For a more complete history of the militarization of police departments, this article "Why Do the Police Have Tanks? is a good resource. For a survey of how military intelligence is being applied to domestic groups, the ACLU has published this helpful survey (pdf) and also demonstrates the close federal cooperation (DHS, FBI, DOD) in military policing of the public on a state by state basis.
This article in The Nation describes where we are now:
More than a decade later, the police response to the Occupy movement, most disturbingly visible in Oakland—where scenes resembled a war zone and where a marine remains in serious condition from a police projectile—brings into sharp relief the acute and chronic problems of American law enforcement. Seattle might have served as a cautionary tale, but instead, US police forces have become increasingly militarized, and it’s showing in cities everywhere: the NYPD “white shirt” coating innocent people with pepper spray, the arrests of two student journalists at Occupy Atlanta, the declaration of public property as off-limits and the arrests of protesters for “trespassing.”
The paramilitary bureaucracy and the culture it engenders—a black-and-white world in which police unions serve above all to protect the brotherhood—is worse today than it was in the 1990s. Such agencies inevitably view protesters as the enemy. And young people, poor people and people of color will forever experience the institution as an abusive, militaristic force—not just during demonstrations but every day, in neighborhoods across the country.
Should all this worry you? See that part of the quote in bold? Remember that when you read this quote from the Atlantic article I quoted above:
Americans should remain mindful bringing military-style training to domestic law enforcement has real consequences. When police officers are dressed like soldiers, armed like soldiers, and trained like soldiers, it's not surprising that they are beginning to act like soldiers. And remember: a soldier's main objective is to kill the enemy.
update: changed title to reflect bloomberg's quote more faithfully. also rec list! thanks!