Police militarization in CO: Cops in fatigues with automatic weapons doing evictions (scary)
Last edited Fri Nov 2, 2012, 06:55 AM - Edit history (2)
"Be advised that everybody on the property is trespassing." So said a Creek County Sheriff Department officer as he ordered activists off of private property yesterday.
He and his fellow officers looked like they were dressed for combat in a war zone, but in fact they had come to evict a woman from her home in Idaho Springs, Colorado. The following photos depict those officers, dressed in combat fatigues and carrying assault weapons, before and during arrests of activists affiliated with Occupy Denver at yesterday's foreclosure defense. (Photos by activist Ambrose Cruz.)
The homeowner facing eviction was apparently underwater on her mortgage with US Bank. She says she told the bank that all she was asking was for another 30 days in the home before an eviction. She needed an extra month in order to find another place to live, she said.
But US Bank and the Creek County Sheriff's Department had other plans, culminating a show of force that thoroughly alarmed activists who had descended on the property to attempt to prevent the eviction.
More on this trend: As with tasers, general principle is: if you fund them, they will use them on you.
Local Cops Ready for War With Homeland Security-Funded Military Weapons
A decade of billions in spending in the name of homeland security has armed local police departments with military-style equipment and a new commando mentality. But has it gone too far? Andrew Becker and G.W. Schulz of the Center for Investigative Reporting report.
Atlanta SWAT team
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/20/local-cops-ready-for-war-with-homeland-security-funded-military-weapons.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
And manly.
seems like a pretty good job.
I don't think it's unprecedented:
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Police in what look like fatigues at an Occupy protest
http://occupywallst.org/article/live-now-watch-march-rnc/
MA state police going after suspect:
http://somerville.patch.com/articles/heavily-armed-state-police-tactical-team-deployed-to-east-somerville-home#photo-9707885
Anaheim police defending disneyland from demonstrators
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/police?before=1343769913
unnecessary force against unarmed and peaceful members of Denver OWS. 
At least when dealing with peaceful protestors, impoverished homeowners and cancer grannies with a little weed.
What stalwart defenders of our country!
Little bullies playing army with real, death-dealing weapons.
It has left all protesters and the woman who was foreclosed upon were quite traumatized. We helped her remove her belongings from off the side of the hill Wednesday through Friday. The (New) land owner/bank is promising to trash all that's left behind starting Saturday(today). Some were knocked to the ground. Some had up to 5 AR-14's shoved in their faces.
Yesterday a highly militarized police force arrived at the home of 63 year old Sahara Donahue to evict her from her residence of 24 years. She was petitioning US Bank for an additional 60 days to remain in her home, so she could have some time to find a new place to live, secure her belongings and leave her home with dignity. She came to the Colorado Foreclosure Resistance Coalition and Occupy Denver General Assembly to ask for our help. She knew no one in Occupy Denver prior to reaching out. We immediately started mobilizing to try to get her the assistance she needed and a group went up to her house for the first rumored eviction on Thursday 10/25. When that eviction didn’t happen, we planned an in-town action at US Bank on Monday for Sahara to try to find someone to speak with about her situation, with carpools up to her house later that day as the eviction was said to be scheduled for Tuesday 10/30. Occupiers laid barricades from fallen trees to prevent moving trucks and workers from entering the property and were able to stave off the eviction for a few hours. At 2:45pm ten or more truckloads of police in full combat gear armed with live-ammo AR-15’s, and grenade launchers arrived on the scene & forced occupiers to the ground at gun point. Police then made their way to the house, broke down the front door, threw Sahara to the ground in her own kitchen and pointed their guns at the heads of a mother and son who were in the house with Sahara along with others. They continued to break items in the house as they searched it. They unplugged the modem, which was the only mode of communication as there was no cell phone coverage in the area, in order to stop the livestream and all communications. After the livestream cut out, the occupy denver legal team spent a harrowing hour in communication blackout wondering if they would be receiving calls from the hospital instead of the jail this time. This psychological violence did not stop one brave activist from jumping into the bucket of the bulldozer that was going to tear through the barricades and forced the operator to stop for several minutes. Three arrests were made, two activists were assaulted and all have been released. Many of the people on the ground have survived multiple occupations and riot cop lines but all agree that this was the most surreal and violent state repression they have experienced protesting. There has been overwhelming community support as other activists and concerned people watched the unnecessary militarized drama unfold online. Everyone is asking “Seriously, why are they in military gear?” All captions for the following photographs are actual comments made on the Occupy Denver Facebook Page.
More at: http://occupydenver.org/peacefulvalleyeviction/
I can't make Original Posts or I'd have posted this myself.
Yes, we know, the sight of cops playing soldier and bearing automatic weapons makes you moist.
... and was
in the Army too. Didn't make him any less of a sadistic asshole.
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