Rise of the Military Cop

Mark Kohut markekohut at yahoo.com
Wed Jul 10 04:56:54 CDT 2013


I went to hear this guy, Radley Balko, speak on the topic of his book. His first event. 
Do you know when (and how) the concept of S.W.A.T. teams came about? Out of the 
ashes of the Watts riots, by Darryl Gates, head of LA police department. He felt THAT 
event was like 'guerrila warfare' and the police were not prepared. 

First use was in 1969----which is, of course, the year we read of Bigfoot the cop in Inherent Vice.
(once again, TRP gets it right). 

From around 300 S.W.A.T. team enactions a year in the early 70s, we now have between 100--150 
A DAY! So many for victimless suspicions of crime (by "informants"); cops meeting quotas; so many mistakes, so many endangered 
lives and innocent lives lost.--as well as the probably sometimes guilty, killed or sent up beyond the crime w/ overreaction. 

His Epilogue, so to speak, my allusion to t
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