<story><title>Lawmakers begin bipartisan push to cut off police access to military-style gear</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/us/politics/police-military-gear.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>stdbrouw</author><text>&amp;gt; The police need to push cars to the side of the road on, I&amp;#x27;d venture, a daily basis.&lt;p&gt;In what kind of weird and twisted world do police officers need to push cars to the side on a daily basis?</text></item><item><author>rconti</author><text>Pusher bumpers are just standard, and have been forever. A friend got accidentally rear-ended by a cop, no damage thanks to the pusher.&lt;p&gt;The police need to push cars to the side of the road on, I&amp;#x27;d venture, a daily basis.</text></item><item><author>coopsmgoops</author><text>I agree from a public relations standpoint too. All the new cruisers in my city are black Chargers&amp;#x2F;Challengers with battering ram front bumpers and they look way too intense for the job.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m also scared irreparable damage had been done to the police brand such that way fewer &amp;quot;good&amp;quot; people will want to sign up.</text></item><item><author>sandworm101</author><text>5) Change the uniforms.&lt;p&gt;Dress for the job you want.  If they all dress like storm troopers some of them will act like storm troopers.&lt;p&gt;NY &lt;i&gt;state&lt;/i&gt; patrol uniform:  Grey with &lt;i&gt;purple&lt;/i&gt; ties. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;northcountrynow.com&amp;#x2F;sites&amp;#x2F;default&amp;#x2F;files&amp;#x2F;images&amp;#x2F;Zone2Platoon2.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;northcountrynow.com&amp;#x2F;sites&amp;#x2F;default&amp;#x2F;files&amp;#x2F;images&amp;#x2F;Zone2...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;NYPD (new york &lt;i&gt;city&lt;/i&gt;) police: Black on black with black ties. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;media.timeout.com&amp;#x2F;images&amp;#x2F;103899055&amp;#x2F;image.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;media.timeout.com&amp;#x2F;images&amp;#x2F;103899055&amp;#x2F;image.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;It seems meaningless, but having interacted with a few police agencies I have noticed a trend.  They cops that show up for meetings in head-to-toe black tend to be more aggressive.  They try to assert themselves in every meeting, which is entertaining as we are the military.  They cannot win the &amp;quot;who has the bigger gun&amp;quot; thing.  The cops that come in oldschool blue shirts and ties are much easier to work with.&lt;p&gt;(Fyi, if those two NYPD officers in the pic were in the military they would get a talking to about attitude.  Hands in pockets.  Chewing.  Crossed arms.  In public?  Have some respect for your uniform.)</text></item><item><author>Shivetya</author><text>The equipment issue isn&amp;#x27;t going to solve anything, this is just lip service to the real problem. Police Unions have effectively created a system by which officers are nearly immune from prosecution and even if successfully prosecuted their record cannot travel with them in many cases.&lt;p&gt;Now one fix that removing some of the equipment will do will reduce the amount of psychological impact it has on those wielding it, as in reduce the Rambo effect. The idea of attaching military style equipment to the current problems is only for political purposes, they needed to blame Trump for the violence.&lt;p&gt;However in the end, there are few alternatives to fixing the police and their application and misapplication of force&lt;p&gt;1) Restrict conditions that can be placed in union negotiated contracts regarding officer behavior, culpability, and indemnification.&lt;p&gt;2) If not 1) then make it illegal for the unions to exist with regards to any public servant who is armed&lt;p&gt;3) civilian oversight boards that are veto proof against the police they monitor. Not only would they review incidents which are questionable they would have to involved in any use of concentrated force to include no knock warrants; something which should be illegal except in the most incredible cases.&lt;p&gt;4) holding elected and appointed officials of the localities, city, county, or state, accountable for the harm caused by their police forces.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mstade</author><text>Clearly you’ve never driven in the US of A. ;o)&lt;p&gt;Facetious commentary aside – and I do apologize for the tongue in cheekness – as a European I’ve always been struck by just how many wrecks and other debris are littered by the side of the roads in the US. Mileage varies I’m sure (no pun intended) but I covered 6660 miles on a road trip through in the US last year and it seemed almost universal to me that you’d see at least one car wreck (often partially or fully burned out) and loads of other debris like blown tires etc.&lt;p&gt;I think I’ve even got video from when I was leaving Kennedy Space Center and just a few miles from the bridges there was a car by the side of the road engulfed in flames.&lt;p&gt;On my latest road trip someone explained to me that the remnants of blown tires are from 18-wheelers that just keep on truckin’ once that happens, basically ignoring it till the next stop or even later. Given how many trucks you see on the road I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s true.</text></comment>
<story><title>Lawmakers begin bipartisan push to cut off police access to military-style gear</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/us/politics/police-military-gear.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>stdbrouw</author><text>&amp;gt; The police need to push cars to the side of the road on, I&amp;#x27;d venture, a daily basis.&lt;p&gt;In what kind of weird and twisted world do police officers need to push cars to the side on a daily basis?</text></item><item><author>rconti</author><text>Pusher bumpers are just standard, and have been forever. A friend got accidentally rear-ended by a cop, no damage thanks to the pusher.&lt;p&gt;The police need to push cars to the side of the road on, I&amp;#x27;d venture, a daily basis.</text></item><item><author>coopsmgoops</author><text>I agree from a public relations standpoint too. All the new cruisers in my city are black Chargers&amp;#x2F;Challengers with battering ram front bumpers and they look way too intense for the job.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m also scared irreparable damage had been done to the police brand such that way fewer &amp;quot;good&amp;quot; people will want to sign up.</text></item><item><author>sandworm101</author><text>5) Change the uniforms.&lt;p&gt;Dress for the job you want.  If they all dress like storm troopers some of them will act like storm troopers.&lt;p&gt;NY &lt;i&gt;state&lt;/i&gt; patrol uniform:  Grey with &lt;i&gt;purple&lt;/i&gt; ties. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;northcountrynow.com&amp;#x2F;sites&amp;#x2F;default&amp;#x2F;files&amp;#x2F;images&amp;#x2F;Zone2Platoon2.gif&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;northcountrynow.com&amp;#x2F;sites&amp;#x2F;default&amp;#x2F;files&amp;#x2F;images&amp;#x2F;Zone2...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;NYPD (new york &lt;i&gt;city&lt;/i&gt;) police: Black on black with black ties. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;media.timeout.com&amp;#x2F;images&amp;#x2F;103899055&amp;#x2F;image.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;media.timeout.com&amp;#x2F;images&amp;#x2F;103899055&amp;#x2F;image.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;It seems meaningless, but having interacted with a few police agencies I have noticed a trend.  They cops that show up for meetings in head-to-toe black tend to be more aggressive.  They try to assert themselves in every meeting, which is entertaining as we are the military.  They cannot win the &amp;quot;who has the bigger gun&amp;quot; thing.  The cops that come in oldschool blue shirts and ties are much easier to work with.&lt;p&gt;(Fyi, if those two NYPD officers in the pic were in the military they would get a talking to about attitude.  Hands in pockets.  Chewing.  Crossed arms.  In public?  Have some respect for your uniform.)</text></item><item><author>Shivetya</author><text>The equipment issue isn&amp;#x27;t going to solve anything, this is just lip service to the real problem. Police Unions have effectively created a system by which officers are nearly immune from prosecution and even if successfully prosecuted their record cannot travel with them in many cases.&lt;p&gt;Now one fix that removing some of the equipment will do will reduce the amount of psychological impact it has on those wielding it, as in reduce the Rambo effect. The idea of attaching military style equipment to the current problems is only for political purposes, they needed to blame Trump for the violence.&lt;p&gt;However in the end, there are few alternatives to fixing the police and their application and misapplication of force&lt;p&gt;1) Restrict conditions that can be placed in union negotiated contracts regarding officer behavior, culpability, and indemnification.&lt;p&gt;2) If not 1) then make it illegal for the unions to exist with regards to any public servant who is armed&lt;p&gt;3) civilian oversight boards that are veto proof against the police they monitor. Not only would they review incidents which are questionable they would have to involved in any use of concentrated force to include no knock warrants; something which should be illegal except in the most incredible cases.&lt;p&gt;4) holding elected and appointed officials of the localities, city, county, or state, accountable for the harm caused by their police forces.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pc86</author><text>Literally any accident where stopped traffic can be more dangerous than slow-moving traffic (such as any highway).&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s really not a strange concept and it&amp;#x27;s weird to me that you can&amp;#x27;t comprehend a first responder having a need to move a large, heavy, immobilized object.</text></comment>