It’s no question that the police in Ferguson, Missouri are absurdly over-armed, and their LRADs, tear gas, and other military-grade gear are making things worse, not better. And on last night’s Last Week Tonight, John Oliver did a spectacular job of breaking it all down in a way that’s almost as funny as it is utterly horrifying.
https://gizmodo.com/what-is-the-lrad-sound-cannon-5860592
Between the insane of amount of overkill gear flooding into small communities thanks to the Defense Department 1033 program—which pretty much accepts “You never know!” as a valid reason for a tank—and the meteoric rise of fully-equipped SWAT raids for mere search warrant execution, the unrest in Ferguson isn’t a chance occurrence, but a symptom of an overall more-is-more mentality that’s been dominating law enforcement for years now.
Oliver makes a pretty compelling case for taking all the toys away and issuing a stern time-out, and it’s good for a laugh—if you can keep from crying. [Last Week Tonight]
