--- On Fri, 7/4/08, Jordan Hayes <jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com> wrote:
> [ ... ] what about 'police state'? I have only
> ever visited
> > the US once in my life, but I never heard so many
> sirens
> > before as I did there.
>
> I don't know where you visited, but in most big US
> cities Fire/EMS calls
> outnumber significant police calls by something like a
> factor of 5.
> Almost every callout for them is a "code 3"
> response -- full lights and
> sirens -- because it's usually a matter of
> someone's well-being at
> stake. On the other hand, the vast majority of police call
> outs are not
> with such urgency, and thus would be made without running
> the siren.
> Why do "firemen" spend so much of their time on
> medical calls? I think
> we all know the reason for that: regular preventative care
> would remove
> the necessity for many 'emergencies' that get
> handled by the fire
> department.
>
> You were most likely hearing fire engines, not police cars.
[WS:] True. Cops use helicopters (aka "ghetto birds") nowadays. I hear them every day in Baltimore. The sirens belong mostly to ambulances.
As to the US being a police state - a few days ago NPR run a program on assets seisures and forfeitures http://www.npr.org/search.php?text=forfeitures&sort=DREDATE%3Anumberdecreasing&aggId=0&prgId=0&topicId=0&how_long_ago=0
These are basically highway robberries of people of color by police officers. If you happen to drive while Hispanic or Black and have some cash on you - the cop can pull you over and confiscate your cash under the pretense of seizing "drug money." No warrants or any incriminating evidence are necessary. Cops regularly use these practices to raise money for their police departments and pay for their perks. And all that is perfectly legal in the US of A.
Police state? I would say "gangster state" where police and government officials are crooks and gangsters in uniforms protected by the corrupt law and kangaroo justice system.
Happy Fourth of July everyone.
Wojtek