The Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter-Attack Truck has come up again as a topic of discussion in Keene. The City Council recently voted to table a proposal by Terry Clark to return the BEARCAT. The following letter has been published by the Keene Sentinel as a letter to the editor, and has also been submitted to the City Council as an official correspondence, and should be on the agenda for the next Council meeting (Sept 18).
In the wake of the protests in Ferguson, Mo., the federal government has begun reconsidering the programs that give away military equipment to local law-enforcement. Sen. Claire McCaskill said police responses like that in Ferguson have “become the problem instead of the solution.” (more…)
The Concord (NH) PD has applied for a Lenco BEARCAT, according to the Union Leader, the application states “Groups such as the Sovereign Citizens, Free Staters and Occupy New Hampshire are active and present daily challenges,” in addition to organized groups, it cited “several homegrown clusters that are anti-government and pose problems for law enforcement agencies.”
The NHCLU Executive Director Devon Chaffee said, “It’s far from clear to us why an armored vehicle would be necessary to address what are generally, by and large, non-violent movements that in fact provide little or no threat to the security of our state.”
Thanks to Devon Chaffee of the NHCLU, I now have a copy of the application, which is being posted for the world to see! (more…)
I attempt to take conversations to their logical conclusions. If Person A makes an absolutist statement it in the least leaves ample room for questions posited as “devils advocate” and likely brings to light questions never before considered, that upon further scrutiny, causes Person A themselves to admit that flaws exist in their argument.
Over the past week when conversing with Keene police employees about their stance on the possible acquisition of a BEARCAT armored vehicle, some noted that “it’s free” – essentially saying that since it is to be provided via a federal Dept. of Homeland Security grant it’d be erroneous to turn it down.
Overlooking the fact that the federal government (like government at any level) must first steal or print what they spend, my immediate follow-up to such it’s-free-so-why-not-take-it statements is to question the point at which they’d say “no thanks.”
What would Keene “authorities” do if they were offered other military hardware, such as a drone? Sound far-fetched? Not so. Fortunately, as the story below demonstrates, at least some comic relief can be had from this escalation of the police state thanks to the rampant be-afraid-of-everything mindset peddled since 9/11 (hey – any excuse to grow the size and scope of the State, right?)
Can an individual claim an exclusive monopoly to a word, phrase or idea, which then denotes the right to seek damages from those who happen to utter sounds in a particular order?
What about a corporation? Can an entity that comes into existence when a group of people put some words on paper all of a sudden have rights? How can a legal fiction be wronged? How exactly would something that exists only on paper be made whole?
Actual picture from LENCO's site
Individuals employed at LENCO, the MA-based manufacturer of the BEARCAT – an $300,000, 8-ton armored vehicle being peddled to police departments in large and small towns alike thanks to Dept. of Homeland Security grants and mindless scare tactic rhetoric – a few weeks ago pulled their promo video of the vehicle after pushback from many Keene, NH, population 23,000, who were rightly concerned about their local police acquiring such hardware. (watch video in full below)
The video in question shows the BEARCAT engaged in SWAT/paramalitary exercises set to AC/DC. Badass, right?! The video is the epitome of the post-9/11 world according to those in government* who grow their claimed authority thanks to real or claimed emergencies. (more…)
1. The Kiosk Parking meters will be removed.
2. Ali Havens has a Valentine’s Day message.
3. Footage from the public hearing in regards to the LENCO BEARCAT.
