A new task force to handle protests....with machine guns.
NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has announced a
new task force:
The unit of 350 cops will be specially trained in high-tech weaponry to deal with protests, lone-wolf attacks and evolving threats posed by terrorists, CBS2’s Marcia Kramer reported.
The Strategic Response Group, Bratton said, will be dedicated to “disorder control and counterterrorism protection capabilities.”
Wait....what? Disorder control? What kind of gear will they have?
“They’ll be equipped and trained in ways that our normal patrol officers are not,” Bratton said. “They’ll be equipped with all the extra heavy protective gear, with the long rifles and machine guns — unfortunately sometimes necessary in these instances.”
Machine guns? And this same anti-terror unit is going to be responsible for "disorder control?" What does that mean?
“It is designed for dealing with events like our recent protests, or incidents like Mumbai or what just happened in Paris,” the commissioner said.
Emphasis added.
It is designed for dealing with events like our recent protests.... So, #BlackLivesMatter and Occupy Wall Street protests or any other future protests are going to be handled by a task force with high tech weaponry, high powered machine guns? And lumped in the same category as actual terrorists?
Having a well-trained task force to deal with the terrorism threats New York City faces is one thing. Using this unit to handle protesters is something else entirely.
See the CBS video report here.