A reader of JNS blog emailed me, sending the photos above which were taken this morning. I'm told the sheriff's department was driving to various parks and taking publicity photos. My reader asks, "What the hell does the sheriff need that war wagon for? You can see they are equipped with combat gear also...is our government getting read for something only the government knows about? John, did our troops drive those war wagons around when you went to war?"
In answer to my reader's questions...
I don't recognize the particular configuration of the vehicle, though it wouldn't look out of place in Afghanistan. I must say I can respect but I do not share the concerns of my reader. In fact, I would be happy to see the police trotting out these weapons all the time and parking in front of the houses of particularly troublesome thugs.
I assume the vehicle is associated with some kind of SWAT team and I'm sure it's no more than what the police need when going after criminals who are armed with automatic weapons, click here for an example.
I agree, less stadiums, more War Wagons!
ReplyDeleteIt is called a BearCat. The Sheriff does not have one......he has 2!
ReplyDeleteLooks like an armored car (truck) like the ones used by Brinks. Maybe they have some pickups scheduled for tomorrow morning? The addresses are probably available here on the Jail Rosters.
ReplyDeleteSlap an Easy-Off decal on the side and watch the moolies scatter like the cucaracha's that they are.
ReplyDelete"Moolies?" I actually had to look that one up.
ReplyDeleteDo you have some kind of racist thesaurus ap in your phone? It must be hard trying to come up with new racist expressions all the time so you can slide your nasty comments past my filter.
Johnny,
ReplyDeleteI am unsure of the last automatic weapon firefight between criminals and cops in Minnesota. Please, enlighten us. The only one I am aware of was with the deceased gentleman who allegedly pulled it away from an officer last month.
Still, a BearCat wouldn't have stopped that.
Secondly, and we agree to disagree, this vehicle is battlefield weapan placed in a civilian setting. It doesn't belong there.
And, I've said it before, if you are trying to terrorize thugs, why not just go to the next step and have Bradley Fighting Vehicles or Abrahms tanks roll through the streets? Same fear, just a different vehicle.
Here is the real deal: This is a plan to militarize our police forces. And, I fear just like in Boston, armed officers carrying M-16s and wearing riot gear will terrorize our communities without warrants and kill without fear of reproach.
And, of course, they will roll through intersections and kill innocent people on motorcycles.
Johnny, I know you respect a good debate, but please realize what this militarization is doing to the community you love.
Perhaps someone should ask Vang Khang if he thinks we're better off with the police driving around a pair of Bear Cats.
ReplyDelete/not the Anonymous that's posting above.
The Vang Khang comment apparently references this incident.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/36059839.html
I think this incident is another reason it's good to have cops that walk the beat. It creates a familiarity with addresses and perhaps helps prevent mistakes like this one. Which is what it was. A tragic mistake which has been settled.
God bless our brave police.
I am in favor of the police having all the firepower they need to get these child-murdering thugs in line. If the police feel they need an MRAP, a Bradley fighting vehicle or (my personal favorite) an Apache helicopter, then I am in favor of it particularly if it's surplus military equipment just being given away.
ReplyDeleteYou know what I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to see the police using? CROWS weapon systems. I operated a CROWS weapons system at a checkpoint in Afghanistan and it was THE SHIT. You could tell the difference between a dog taking a shit versus a dog taking a piss at, like, a couple hundred meters. IN THE DARK OF NIGHT. You could see a vehicle passing by and tell if it had been driving a long time or had just started its journey from the heat signature on the AXLES. You could look at a tank of water and tell where the water level was like with Superman x-ray vision.
I do respect a good debate and we will have to agree to disagree on this one. I think if you park two of those things in front of a house that's under siege then the hostage taker inside the house starts to think VERY VERY SERIOUSLY about coming out with his hands out. This is simply not true of other kinds of equipment like a standard Crown Victoria patrol car.
But is there a point where all that equipment becomes SCARY? For EVERYBODY? Even for the decent people?
Yes. But I don't see that point as being the possession of two BearCats by the sheriff's department.
Moolies- What Sal called his clientele in "Do The Right Thing" before they burnt down his pizzeria. You rednecks in Minneapolis need to catch up.
ReplyDeleteJohnny,
ReplyDeleteI guess I must wonder if you support the Fourth Amendment, since those who have nothing to hide don't mind cops searching their dwellings?
I wonder if you believe in the ability to own guns, since gun crime is rampant in Minnesota?
Do you think the NSA should be able to read your emails, watch your Skype conversations, etc? I don't. But, I guess you trust law enforcement.
I wonder if you think a BearCat, or an Apache flying overhead with night vision, is the kind of neighborhood or community you want to live in? Maybe you'd like road blocks and people to show papers.
Personally, the militarization of our law enforcement is creating a police state. It's something we should eradicate, not encourage.
Now then, despite reading and re-reading the Star Tribune, you obviously didn't waste your time earlier this month reading the article about the huge payouts the City funds for police brutality, yet no cop gets fired or suspended.
Oh, and I wonder if you were interested in licking the jackboots of the now former SWAT cadre who was fired for damn near killing a man with a sucker punch at a bar. Of course, this guy defended himself by testifying this was what he was 'trained' to do.
Really, Johnny? Really?
In the coming years, your son may have some type of police involvement. I pray you have the wisdom to realize the Miranda is your friend, and that a cop can ruin your life in a heartbeat.
Lastly, since the above commentator spoke of the "mistaken" raid, let's not forget about the cops speeding through an intersection 30 MINUTES after the deceased gunman shot two cops in the leg with the machine gun he somehow grabbed from them.
Johnny, for such a smart guy, you really fail to look at the big picture.
The problem with a law enforcement department having an armored vehicle is that they will now try to figure out ways to use it. Hennepin County has not had need of such a vehicle in the past. They don't need it now.
ReplyDeleteThe militarization of police officers is a serious problem.
Johnny,
ReplyDeleteOne more comment. You reference having BearCats parked outside hostage negotiations to scare thugs.
Well, he's the problem, the police are NOT using them for that. Instead, they are using them to roll into neighborhoods for low-level warrants, JUST LIKE THE ONE YOU CALL A 'TRAGIC MISTAKE.'
For the militarized police, a BearCat is a new toy, just like the unnecessary Call of Duty SWAT uniforms.
But it's not your fault for being ignorant, Johnny. The police WANT you to think the way you do... because it means their budget grows with your fear. Fears that are rarely, if ever, realized.
Lastly, on this post, the number of 'tragic mistakes' caused by overzealous SWAT teams is growing by leaps and bounds. So much so, HHuffington Post's Radley Balco has been covering it for months.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/the-agitator
back in the day they would use a front end loader and bum rush the house while the people were in it! I would personally like to see drones flying around Nominiapple and the ghost of Abner Diallo appear with a broken broomstick still protruding from his fuego escape hole
ReplyDeletejohnnynorfside says:
ReplyDeleteGiving the Minneapolis police military equipment!!! Just imagine the $$$ MILLIONS $$$ of taxpayers DOLLARS to be spent extra parts, a place to keep it, taking it fun places for paid training, then they can all get there picture taken with it. MAYBE!! go to the factory and see one MADE!! [job related] PAY ME !!!
THEN [one month later] the lawsuits will come rolling in and than start PAYING OUT!!!
WELL better start recording sound & video for are own protection and stream it live to the interweb use something like QIK where it can't be deleted from your PHONE!
Than when all is said and done? NO cops lives will be saved, only the people who have the MISFORTUNE of having this assault vehicle within 100 yards of it. WILL be the ones hurt by it. YES that's right! ONLY the GOOD & KIND PEOPLE of MINNEAPOLIS just trying to live in a peaceful community where parks and schools can get COOL STUFF like this! and ALL the $MONEY$ needed to support 'em
GET OFF THE drugs JOHNNNYBOY
( Good communities are not built this way ) opportunities for the young is a far better choice for the same amount of dollars. and that's NO LIE!
XOXOXO
who loves ya baby
Johnnynorfside dose
I was torn when I saw the video of the search for the Boston Marathon bomber in Watertown, Mass. I know we were looking for a terrorist, but I was stunned when I saw federal and local officers with assault rifles, armored personnel carriers and other weapons. Worse, is they were going into homes without warrants.
ReplyDeleteIf you love freedom, you must hate the BearCat, because it is a fear-based weapon that belongs on a battlefield. As much as the sheriff's department wants to spend your tax dollars, Hennepin County has nothing to base an expenditure like this on.
Just last summer, Johnny, you showed video and photos of the FBI raiding a home on Emerson. We don't know why, but they used a damn humvee to serve the warrant! A humvee with a turret and officers wearing Call of Duty costumes.
Ironically, Johnny himself says he wants cops to walk beats so they become familiar with neighborhoods, so they don't make "tragic mistakes" and settle out of court. Fine, I'm okay with that, but I am rather sure our deputies have this thing called Google, and can study a neighborhood and address before blasting through the wrong door.
The Huffington Post link shows raid after raid across the country that goes wrong, and highlights officers who shoot first and think later. Meanwhile, they are not held responsible for their incorrect decisions.
Johnny, how can you be so right on some things, yet so wrong on others. I hope cops don't serve the wrong warrant on your house. Then you will see how dumb this purchase was.
The more armored personnel carriers we have the better.
ReplyDeleteThis is war, fuckers, and the dredges of society will be cast into the flames of hell and they will not stand a chance because once the shit breaks out I'm gonna be killin' my share of these germs with my metal-based disinfectant "that do not lie"!! Let the fucking games begin cuz I got me some rapists and chomos to snuff too, the ones you post about, mainly, and they won't be hard to hunt because they stay in the area which isn't advantageous to their survival.
Dregs. I'm sure you meant to write "dregs" not "dredges." Is that you again, Don Allen?
ReplyDeleteDamn, you are a looser aren't you? Only loosers could be so outrageous to come to such an angular conclusion. I pray that you see the light someday.
ReplyDeleteWhen somebody can't distinguish between "loose" or "looser," between "lose" and "loose," I can't help but think...
ReplyDeleteDon Allen of IBNN.