The article is trying to paint the men in the picture as a small town police force, WHICH they are not. Those are STL county officers, and STL county is huge, with a lot of tax income, thus STL county is far better armed and equipped than the Ferguson or Metro PD, and routinely loans their people and equipment to…

>The rioters and the protestors were two different groups.

What, no "agent provocateurs" excuse?

I assume some True Scotsmen were present? You are aware that it is quite possible to be both?

Remember that time we had soldier-cops shutting down a major metropolitan area to find a bomber and no one gave much of a damn, or worse were grateful to the show of force even though the bomber was ultimately found by a guy checking on his boat?

I guess we're past that now, right?

The above images and video were tall taken in Ferguson, Missouri this week, as protests rock the town in the wake of the shooting of an unarmed teenager. More notable than the protests themselves, however, has been the police response, which as you can see, has been on the heavy-handed side.

Here's the biggest problem with this well written, yet misguided, piece. I've had the luxury of working for a law enforcement entity, and have also had the pleasure of living my entire life as a minority. While what you say is true about the militarization of police, it's not for the reasons you say it is. It's not…

The above images and video were tall taken in Ferguson, Missouri this week, as protests rock the town in the wake of the shooting of an unarmed teenager. More notable than the protests themselves, however, has been the police response, which as you can see, has been on the heavy-handed side.

I don't remember Clive Bundy being a multiple mobs of people setting buildings on fire, picking fights with random people on the streets, and going city center to city center causing trouble. It seems to me that the cop was in the wrong, but these "protesters" are out of control.

It's not great for sure but it's still better than a powerless police force that can't even cope with street thugs like in France and other western European nations.

And this article has no obvious bias?

The police are dressing for the mission: riot prevention and resolution. Do we expect them to show up like bicycle cops? Would the jackbooted motorcycle cops be more appropriate? Or maybe the meter maid Law and Order cops should be holding back violent protests?

I'm a white male in St. Louis and I agree with everything you say, up until, "again marched in nonviolent protest." I hate what happens in our country, but for you to set aside the looting as nonviolent and just, discredits everything else you said. Which was mostly accurate and brilliant.

Being from ABQ I feel comfortable saying that this is a POLICE ISSUE. Not a race issue. Militarization of police forces is getting out of hand.

Fair enough...but how do you explain all the looters in Missouri who ransacked stores, robbed tire shops, and burned their own streets...?

Ferguson, Missouri Riots Looting Weave Shop (Fox …:

Kill Whitey

Generally when there are large crowds of people, the police are there to control the crowd & traffic. THANK GOD they were in swat gear considering this 'peaceful' vigil turned into more than 12 business being destroyed & looted. Some locally owned which the owner had to watch his livelihood be destroyed on tv. This…

You're welcome.

This reminds me of a thing I've been told over and over again. If your passion is something esoteric, be prepared to make sacrifices and to make less money doing it.