By Matt AgoristEarlier this month, during an entirely peaceful protest, a murderer opened fire on crowds of police officers. Five Dallas cops were tragically killed and seven others injured. Only days after the Dallas attack, three more cops were killed in Baton Rouge, when a former Marine with PTSD ambushed them.
Both of these attacks were carried out by sick individuals who thought that killing random police officers would somehow advance their cause. They could not have been more wrong.
As the Free Thought Project has previously warned, these attacks do nothing to stop police violence against citizens. In fact, it has the exact opposite effect. Now, when cops needlessly kill someone, their actions will be under less scrutiny from the public. All the police have to say now is “Dallas” or “Baton Rouge.”
Violently attacking the government creates victims out of the ones we are trying to expose as criminals.
Those who initiate and support such violence will be complicit in creating the hellish police state that will inevitably ensue as a consequence of their actions.
It will start a war in which the people are the enemy. Indeed, it already has.
According to the NYPD, instead of body cameras to increase accountability, all cops, even those on patrol, will now be dressed for battle.
“This is a job full of risk & it’s our job to minimize that risk,”- @NYPDChiefofDept. Watch: https://t.co/bdZpNwlU6e pic.twitter.com/rmUsh3wl1y— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) July 25, 2016
“Now, more than ever, society is asking its police officers to go into harm’s way and to face grave danger,” said Police Commissioner William J. Bratton. “The department is fortunate to have the financial support to ensure that as they do, they have the best equipment and protection available.”The NYPD has begun a $7.5 million project to purchase personal protective equipment, including heavy ballistic vests and helmets, to further enhance the safety of responding officers in the event of an active shooter situation. Twenty thousand ballistic helmets will be distributed to all uniformed members of the service assigned to patrol functions. Additionally, six thousand heavy ballistic vests, which contain a front and rear level three panel, will be furnished in 3,000 vehicles assigned to patrol duties (two per vehicle.) Delivery of the equipment will begin at the end of the summer and continue through January, until all vests and helmets have been distributed.
Aside from turning the NYPD into a standing army, these senseless murders have put cops across the nation on the offensive. As the Free Thought Project reported, cops have no problem going public declaring the citizens as the enemy in their new ‘war.’
“We are at war!” exclaimed Major Yates.
“The men and women behind the badge know it. Good leaders know it, and
decent communities know it. For the safety of all of our men and women
behind the badge, it is time our country knows it.” In what some might
consider a remarkable specimen of hyperbole, Major Yates compares the
emotional impact of recent episodes in which police officers have been
murdered to the 9/11 attacks, writes Will Grigg for the Free Thought Project.“I’ll never forget the mood at the squad meeting at 3 pm on September 11, 2001,” Yates recalls. “ I gathered with about 20 cops in the same room that we had deployed out of for years but this day was different. Our country had been attacked and we were pissed. In fact, several from that day joined the military and others seriously pondered it.”
Just
before the Dallas shootings, the tide in America was shifting. The
deaths of Philando Castille and Alton Sterling shook the nation out of
its stupor. Americans citizens and even police officers were demanding
that this senseless violence against innocent people be immediately
halted.However, thanks to more senseless violence, the American police state has not only been ostensibly justified — all the work people have done to roll it back — is being undone.
In a reactionary response to the shooting of cops, Pres. Obama now plans to review — and potentially repeal — the May, 2015 ban on police obtaining military surplus equipment like riot gear, explosives, armored vehicles, grenade launchers, bayonets, and more.
Violence breeds violence.
The sooner people realize this, the sooner we can talk about real solutions. However, ignorance on both sides of this argument is preventing any solutions from being talked about.
If you honestly believe that black lives matter, it is your duty to call for an end to the drug war.
And if police honestly want to prevent violence, it is their duty to refuse to enforce immoral laws that criminalize arbitrary substances and personal choices.
When the government makes certain substances illegal, it does not remove the demand. Instead, the State creates crime by pushing the sale and control of these substances into the illegal black markets. All the while, demand remains constant. Criminal gangs form to protect and maintain demand, in turn, sending black-on-black crime statistics through the roof.
Tasking police with enforcing this ridiculous war creates constant hostile interactions. Remove the drug war and remove most of these confrontations and remove the incentive for gang violence — thereby fostering peace.
We can look at the prohibition of alcohol and the subsequent mafia crime wave that ensued as a result as an example. The year 1930, at the peak of prohibition, happened to be the deadliest year for police in American history. 300 police officers were killed, and innumerable poor people slaughtered as the State cracked down on drinkers.
When people’s freedoms to do as they wish without harming others become threatened — the people lash out. This can be seen throughout history.
We are winning and can beat these tyrants. But, if people continue to stoop to the same level of senseless violence and removal of due process as them, we will not only lose, but fulfill Orwell’s prediction of the future — “a boot stamping on a human face — forever.”
Matt Agorist is the co-founder of TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared. He is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. .
