Many people in the Bay Area are familiar with the annual Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival which took place this past weekend. Typically, the only complaint associated with this annual festival relates to the horrible traffic on Hwy 92 and, if that doesn't phase you, the sea of humanity that greets you at the festival itself. Compared to the Keene Pumpkin Festival in New Hampshire this past weekend, I'd say Half Moon Bay doesn't look so bad after all this time of year. The Keane Festival ended with tear gas, street fires, and at least 49 arrests in a quiet town of around 23,000. The annual pumpkin festival is one of the biggest events all year for the town of Keane, drawing as many as 70,000 people. If anything, these riots have certainly given the Keene Police Department something to do and potentially the first real reason to play with their new toy, yes one of these...
which they applied for and received in late 2012 citing "terrorist attacks" on their annual pumpkin festival as the reason that they needed to spend $285,933 on this armored monstrosity. This armored beast, which was ironically made fun of a few months ago on HBOs Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (7:20) for being extremely excessive, proved useful, but still extremely unnecessary. Now rather than focus on the events at the pumpkin festival itself, which amount to little more than excessively intoxicated college students running wild in the streets, I think the real issue at hand here is militarization of the police. Should small towns in New Hampshire be allowed to spend upwards of $285,000 on a military grade SWAT vehicle when, outside of this weekend's events, they have about as much use for them as the Town of Hillsborough (which fittingly has a SWAT vehicle of its own)?
Has police militarization gone too far?
5 comments:
The article says that most of the problems stemmed from the fact that the thousands of college students treat this festival like "its just like a rush..revolting from the cops…do[ing] things you're not supposed to do," as one student said. Given this, I think that the city was a bit ridiculous in calling for a swat vehicle on the terms of a possible terrorist attack. Yes, the flipped cars and smashed road signs are definitely disrespectful and against the law and the police have a right to handle those appropriately, but I'm not sure if a three hundred thousand dollar swat vehicle is necessary (nor the best method) to fend off teenagers for one night a year.
It is unfortunate that big riots like this happen. However, these riots can sometimes take a long time to contain and they can be extremely dangerous. The riots just a couple months ago in Ferguson are an example of riots where people died. In cases like this, I believe the government needs to do all that is possible to stop the riot, even if it includes a SWAT vehicle. These riots can turn deadly quickly, thus it is important to have the ability to put them out quickly. In addition, it is my understanding that citizens get to vote for something like this SWAT vehicle. Since it is for the citizen’s safety, they should get to decide whether or not to have it. So, if they think the SWAT vehicle has gotten out of control, they can vote to get rid of it.
First I find it very ironic that only a month after John Oliver says that They will never need to use their Bearcat Tank they actually use it. I thnk That yes. The police are completely over militarized. Yes they used the tank. DOesn't mean they should have a tank. Police in Great Britain don't even carry guns, and our police can fill out a little form and get a tank...When can you justify pulling out a tank. A riot? To bring out a tank the riot would have to be a terrorist invasion because that is a seige weapon, and a danger to society.
The fact that a town police force owns such an expensive, out-of-place vehicle seems worse than the fact that they actually used it to quell the riot. I'm not sure how they acquired the vehicle, but even if they bought it at a subsidized rate, it's still money that could be much better spent in the community. Regarding use in the riot, it seems like a case of "if you've got it, flaunt it." Even though the vehicle is meant for a much higher level of conflict, its use is primarily defensive which serves to reduce damage and injury.
Keane is a city that is placed in a unique circumstance given its size. It is the site of one of the Free State Projects in which many libertarians openly defy local and sometimes federal law. Their ultimate goal is to have a truly free state that is free from most regulations and having a more decentralized society, they were founded in 2001 with the plan to move most of their members into a small city to completely take over. They have 16.5 thousand of their 20 thousand goal in Keane. They openly defy public ordinances and usually hold several provocative civil disobedience resulting in an unusually high arrest record for the small town. They smoke marijuana in public, fill parking meters to ensure no one gets a ticket, and will even disregard taxes for their beliefs. The state government's liberals see them as a greater risk toward society but the Conservatives applaud their fight against large government. The SWAT armored vehicle was paid for by the Concord police department after the edited their first draft so that it omitted any reference toward the Free Staters, Occupy, and Sovereign Citizens. Why not look at the sweet serene Hillsborough? http://www.hillsborough.net/269/Divisions
My God we have a SWAT team AND a Defensive Tactics Team. I don't even understand the Defensive Tactics Team, are we at threat from invasion? You could argue that because of the wealth of the Borough attracts crime and thus they pay for increased security and loans it toward San Mateo county in actual heinous crimes or events. And Savage, how could you forget what happened at our elementary school? The SWAT team rolled right in through our fences and grilled us hot dogs, gave out personalized training cards and gave us a half day because.....they are friends? Any one else have opinions on this because I think I need to find out if I really do love NWA's hit songs or if I am the product of a community outreach resentment.
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