The Law Enforcement Officer Thread

Geez, I'm not even particularly fond of dogs, and I'm still pretty upset about what happened to that poor dog. Somebody screwed up badly.

So apparently, some police forces do use LM Gs, particularly the Mexican and Belgian police. I thought they were ridiculously overkill for police use, but I guess the militarization of police pretty much allows them to have anything they want except rocket launchers (And in the case of the Mexican police, the cartels justify having that much firepower). Personally, I think that anything above a submachine gun/PDW, anti-materiel sniper rifle or grenade launcher is usually overkill for most police work (Though there are cases where it can be understandably justified, like the above Mexican police), but I guess America loves the M4 too much and North Hollywood made them think they needed more firepower.

edited 17th Mar '17 6:55:29 PM by Bat178

First off police militarization has been grossly exaggerated in terms of equipment, again equipment=/=militarization.

Second both of those organizations are notably different than the US varied police forces trying to shoe horn "police militarization" is frankly wrong minded when both organizations are notably and appreciably different from the average US police organization.

The Belgian police have Federal and then local Police. I am betting the Federal Police are the ones sporting the LMG's and they have a good reason to have them. The Federal Police are like several US organizations rolled into one. That would include DHS and the Coast Guard as well as branch dedicated to protecting the royal family. They also have the SWAT unit and frequently help deal with terror threats. That they have military equipment makes a lot of sense given the structure and overall responsibility of the force.

Do you really need an explanation for the Mexican Police to be heavily armed? They are not dealing with normal criminals they are dealing with the Cartel's who have military hardware stolen, manufactured, or smuggled in. Many members of the Cartel are either ex military or moles inside the military. Frankly the Mexican Police have some decent excuses for possibly heavier weapons.

I already edited my post before you posted to say that the Mexican police sporting that much firepower is justified by the Cartels. Also, I got the other notable police for confused. It's the Luxembourgian police, not the Belgian police.

edited 17th Mar '17 7:36:14 PM by Bat178

Fair enough.

By Luxembourgian you mean the Grand Ducal Police? They have deliberately organized police structures that seem to be organized by region at a national level. Their regions each have an overall structure responsible for it. The primary unit in each region is the HQ, special response, and handles general emergencies. They then break down into sub units typically for local policing. In fact it looks like that isn't uncommon in Western Europe. Some form of over arching organization that ultimately dictates policing for the country followed by some sort of sub organization that does that does the local policing and law enforcement.

The US seems to take a more varied approach to police force organization which is why we have so many different ways our police forces are organized. The US almost completely lacks any sort of unification of Policing even at the state level. Not even Sheriff's or state Police are the same between states. The closest we get are Federal LEO.

Yeah, the Grand Ducal Police.

Orly airport is sealed off after a man tried to accost a female French soldier to nab her weapon before being shot.

He's known to LE agencies for having a rap sheet for drugs and armed theft. He's been radicalized for a bit, but no one knows if he did it to do a one-man terror attack or if it due to hatred to authority from being in the slammer.

Analysts think that he did it just to go down fighting.

edited 18th Mar '17 8:12:06 AM by Ominae

He went for a woman in a position of authority. This screams personal issues more than anything else. That, or he thought he could take her, then make "a point". But, one slight misogynistic miscalculation later...

Who knows...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/20/orly-airport-shooting-drugs-and-alcohol-found-in-gunmans-blood

PN analysis confirms that he got hooked on alcohol/drugs before he did the thing.

Relevant when the same kind of thing happens to the USMC.

Washington Post: U.S. border officers told a Mexican teen to drink liquid meth. His family received $1 million for his death

...Why?

Ok the article points out the why. They told him to prove it was apple juice and the kid drank it anyway.

edited 21st Mar '17 2:09:38 PM by TuefelHundenIV

He was trying to smuggle it and they said if it was just water he'd drink it.

Never mind the fact that they actually had testing kits on hand issued for the very explicit purpose of identifying liquids. . .

Sounds like everybody involved was dumb, but nothing warranted someone dying over it.

Stupidity kills...

Yikes. They should've just confiscated the bottle.

edited 21st Mar '17 11:09:10 PM by hellomoto

Holy shit.

That is a massive haul.

While Spain has a really good intelligence agency, their security is lacking, and being the bridge between Europe and North Africa, smugglers of all kinds like to ship their cargo there. It's one of the reasons why the IRA was able to operate in Gibraltar despite us being far away from the rest of the UK.

edited 23rd Mar '17 11:27:35 PM by Bat178

A couple friends in AZ were reporting a bunch of armed militia yahoos were hanging around Phoenix. Supposedly they got a bit bent out of shape because a local report was filming them.

Any one got anything on this?

https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/dutertes-drugs-war-chief-struggles-210000254.html

Duterte and the PNP struggling to keep Chinese-sourced meth out.

Duterte will have a deal he can't refuse on his hands, before the issue is settled.

XX Ist Century Opium Wars? In Soviet System China Drugs You?

GSG 9 has a nice new promotional video (in German).

So, just saw the new Ghost in the Shell film (it's a cop movie, technically, so I think it fits here).

Despite the obligatory casting controversy, I rather enjoyed the film (having been a fan of the various anime installments for a few years now). They trimmed back the philosophical discussion to something a bit more realistic for people with actual work to do (basically they'd touch on the cybernetic enhancement vs humanity debate here and there, with different characters having different views on the matter, but they wouldn't let it get bogged down into a long discussion that would stop the movie cold).

Also, most important thing, Togusa and Chief Aramaki are both bamfs. You get the impression that Aramaki didn't become an old man in his line of work because he was soft.

Overall, the plot is a sort of chop-suey of elements from the different anime films and shows, with more of a focus on the Major's own backstory.