Alkydere posted:

Perry? I mean he's merely being charged with corruption and blackmail (from incompetently trying to blackmail the one person in Texas who's job it is to take politicians to task for corruption and blackmail). Being corrupt as gently caress criminal is practically a tick in the positive category for Republicns.

zoux posted:

quote:

The future of the New York Police Department will include patrol officers with more time to visit with community members and learn their concerns.

It will also include more high-powered weapons for a new unit of specially trained officers focused on patrolling terrorist targets and protests.

The twin initiatives, announced by Commissioner William J. Bratton in a speech on Thursday, highlighted the tensions in New York City between the desire of officials to put a friendlier face on officers’ day-to-day interactions with the public, and a rising fear of terrorism by lone actors.

The speech, an annual State of the N.Y.P.D. address to the nonprofit Police Foundation, outlined Mr. Bratton’s vision of a police force better equipped to respond to big events, and also more understanding of local issues in high-crime areas where distrust of officers persists.

“A new patrol model,” he called it during the speech, which also touched on a wide range of earlier proposals, from putting stun guns into the hands of more officers to replacing aging bulletproof vests and, eventually, outfitting the entire patrol force with body cameras.

Improving frayed police-community relations has been Mr. Bratton’s mandate since returning last year to lead the department. Small efforts to that end have been underway since, even as the death of Eric Garner after an arrest on Staten Island in July deepened the divide. Rookie officers in the 47th Precinct in the Bronx, for example, have been tasked with making — and tracking — their local contacts. In other parts of the city, officers this week gave out movie tickets to young people for a showing of “Selma.”

Among the most specific changes detailed by Mr. Bratton on Thursday, however, was the creation of a heavily armed unit to patrol areas of the city and respond to large-scale events, such as protests or terrorist attacks. Those duties are now often performed by officers drawn from precincts across the city who are temporarily assigned to terrorist targets, such as Times Square.

The new unit, to be made up of roughly 350 officers and to be called the Strategic Response Group, will be created in the coming months, Mr. Bratton said. Officers assigned to it would be equipped with heavy protective gear and machine guns, and receive advanced training in counterterrorism tactics and “advanced disorder control,” he said.

“It is designed for dealing with events like our recent protests or incidents like Mumbai or what just happened in Paris,” Mr. Bratton said, referring to the terrorist attacks in India in 2008 and in France this month, both carried out by small groups of men wielding assault rifles.

The Police Department’s Emergency Service Unit has long handled many assignments requiring special weapons and tactics, but after the Sept. 11 attacks, the department also created heavily armed units known as Hercules teams.

Plans for the new unit drew immediate criticism from some police reform advocates.

It is “the opposite of progress,” Priscilla Gonzalez, organizing director of Communities United for Police Reform, said in a statement, to have “a more militarized police force that would use counterterrorism tactics against protesters.”

In his speech, Mr. Bratton also said the department would test out a “highly localized neighborhood policing plan” in four precincts — two in Manhattan, two in Queens — in which officers focus on small sections of neighborhoods and are given more time to do so, without having to worry about responding to emergency calls.

Mr. Bratton said he would reduce the number of patrol officers who currently find themselves either in specialty roles or “running from call to call” in a department that, he said, “does not have enough police officers.” Instead, he said, officers would have about a third of their day mostly free from the “tyranny” of the radio to focus on local crime concerns.

A new challenge for the department will be tracking what officers do during that time.

“There needs to be a way to measure effective community policing practices,” said Susan Shah of the Vera Institute of Justice, who has studied community policing policies nationally.

As an example of what the new patrol model might look like on the street, Mr. Bratton drew from his own experience the day before: As he was getting his shoes shined, he observed a group of men, with “their booze stuffed in the two phone booths,” who were harassing people outside the shop, he told reporters after the speech.

Mr. Bratton directed officers from his security detail to call the local precinct. Soon, two of the men were under arrest.

It was a quintessential moment of “broken windows” policing by the commissioner who has championed the strategy, which has come under criticism for its focus on minor disorder as the best way to prevent major crime.

“This is the heart of community policing,” he said.

A manager at the shop at Columbus Circle, Dino’s Shoe Repair, said Mr. Bratton made the call without any prompting.

“The men outside are a big problem,” said the manager, Maria Kounavis, who added that they were back again on Thursday. “We’re grateful, even if it was for one night.”

ReidRansom posted:

When has New York ever needed machine guns? I honestly cannot think of a single instance in which they would have been necessary.

comes along bort posted:

I refer you to one Plissken, Snake.

Kalman posted:

Never, because I'm a lawyer in DC and know the guy both through my law school and through various IP events?

NoEyedSquareGuy posted:

Rick Perry wears ivory tower smart person glasses now so I don't know if he can maintain his appeal with the conservative base.

Alkydere posted:

I know, isn't it great? He started wearing them shortly after he ended up coming across as a loving moron last election too.

Accretionist posted:

This is a larger article from the NYTimes on the recently proposed changes, it includes more detail on the Strategic Response Groups and also a bevy of concurrently proposed positive changes: N.Y.P.D. Plans Initiatives to Fight Terrorism and Improve Community Relations

I don't think it puts near enough emphasis on the intention to use the SRG against protesters but it's all worth reading:

quote:

U.S. Congressman Chris Smith earlier this week announced gay rights are not human rights. "I am a strong believer in traditional marriage and I do not construe homosexual rights as human rights," Smith said. He also suggested that the Obama administration’s "views on LGBT rights affected or hindered our support for Nigeria to defeat Boko Haram."

The conservative Republican from New Jersey is now under attack by LGBT groups in his home state and nationally, by the Human Rights Campaign.

Heightening the impact of his anti-gay statement is that Rep. Smith is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, and made his comments at a meeting of that subcommittee, which is a part of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressman Smith's remarks were made on Wednesday, perhaps ironically, during a hearing he chaired on Nigeria. That same day, Nigerian law enforcement arrested twelve men accused of holding a same-sex wedding.

“It’s simple: LGBT rights are human rights. It’s shocking that Smith — or anyone in his position — would make such close-minded comments to the contrary,” said Chris Hillmann, Co-Chair of the New Jersey Democratic LGBT Caucus. “For a person in his position to dehumanize such a large segment of our society and to suggest that members of the LGBT community are creating hurdles for U.S. diplomats is appalling on so many levels. Representative Smith should apologize for trying to pit some people’s human rights against those of others.”

zoux posted:

Huh, maybe here's an issue liberals and conservatives can unite on. gently caress HENRYs

Accretionist posted:

NYPD to launch dedicated 350-man "Strategic Response Group" to handle terrorists and protests, will have vehicle-mounted machine guns

What does New York see more of, terrorists or protesters?

Accretionist posted:

This is a larger article from the NYTimes on the recently proposed changes, it includes more detail on the Strategic Response Groups and also a bevy of concurrently proposed positive changes: N.Y.P.D. Plans Initiatives to Fight Terrorism and Improve Community Relations

I don't think it puts near enough emphasis on the intention to use the SRG against protesters but it's all worth reading:

NoEyedSquareGuy posted:

Christie fell out of a chair

Evil Fluffy posted:

I'm going to be stunned if DeBlasio wins reelection.

icantfindaname posted:

He won with 73% of the vote the first time around. I don't know a whole lot about NYC politics but is it really that dire?

Radbot posted:

I'm curious to think of a single situation in which municipal police should be using vehicle-mounted machine guns (I'm guessing .50 BMG? Or maybe miniguns?) to enforce laws. I'm assuming AT mines are next?

Is the idea just to kill everyone at a protest under the presumption that they're terrorists?

Radbot posted:

I'm curious to think of a single situation in which municipal police should be using vehicle-mounted machine guns (I'm guessing .50 BMG? Or maybe miniguns?) to enforce laws. I'm assuming AT mines are next?

Is the idea just to kill everyone at a protest under the presumption that they're terrorists?

icantfindaname posted:

He won with 73% of the vote the first time around. I don't know a whole lot about NYC politics but is it really that dire?

Mineaiki posted:

I would honestly not be shocked if they thought that protesters and the occasional bomb threat warranted a .50 BMG, but it's probably just going to be something in 7.62×51.

I don't know much about the NYPD though. What kind of vehicle would they be putting this on? Do they have humvees?

Mineaiki posted:

I don't know much about the NYPD though. What kind of vehicle would they be putting this on? Do they have humvees?

Joementum posted:

Quote of the day, "[I'm] sad for my kids, my grandkids, and my country. I leave for Israel tomorrow. I may not come back.” ~ Romney advisor Ron Kaufman.

haveblue posted:

He won with such a huge margin because he appeared to be the antithesis of the old mayor (Bloomberg), who everyone was tired of even before he had the law changed to allow himself a third term, and also because his opponent was a guy who said that he'd kill kittens.

quote:

Congressman Smith's remarks were made on Wednesday, perhaps ironically, during a hearing he chaired on Nigeria. That same day, Nigerian law enforcement arrested twelve men accused of holding a same-sex wedding.

Radbot posted:

I'm curious to think of a single situation in which municipal police should be using vehicle-mounted machine guns (I'm guessing .50 BMG? Or maybe miniguns?) to enforce laws. I'm assuming AT mines are next?

Is the idea just to kill everyone at a protest under the presumption that they're terrorists?

Doctor Butts posted:

If you bring vehicle mounted weapons to a protest, it is only a matter of time before they are used. And poo poo will go way downhill. I feel like I need to get the gently caress out of the USA.

Doctor Butts posted:

If you bring vehicle mounted weapons to a protest, it is only a matter of time before they are used. And poo poo will go way downhill. I feel like I need to get the gently caress out of the USA.

site posted:

And then the national guard comes in and kills all the lovely cops. Obama wins.

site posted:

And then the national guard comes in and kills all the lovely cops. Obama wins.