I recently posted a piece, with links, expressing my concern over the increased militarization and lawlessness of the civil law enforcement in the United States.  I am aware that this has always been a problem, but it is becoming acute, in my view, for two reasons:

First, the increasing militarization tends to cause police officers to view themselves more as soldier/combatants in hostile territory rather than as law enforcement officers (i.e., civil servants) integrated into a community.

Second, the ferocity of police unions in adopting a “my LEO, may he always be right, but my LEO, right or wrong” mentality is one that, all too often, turns a blind eye to justice in the service of blue solidarity.  

Following are examples of police power abuse that do nothing but heighten my concern:

Example-A, HERE, is an update on a case arising from the massive California manhunt for accused cop-killer Christopher Dorner in February of 2013, in which two women delivering newspapers in a pickup were inexplicably mistaken for Dorner.  The cops, seemingly near hysteria, then fired a total of 103 rounds into the truck.  Amazingly, the women were hit by nothing more harmful than flying shards of shattered automobile window glass.

Example-B, HERE, is an update on the case of David Eckert, an innocent New Mexico man who …

was stopped on a minor traffic violation and accused by an officer of holding his buttocks.  What followed was a nightmare where officers and doctors subjected Eckert to outrageous abuse as they searched for drugs or contraband in his body.  Before the police released him after finding no drugs, he would endure five manual penetrations; three forced defecations before witnesses; and an intrusive surgery under sedation.

Abuses such as these were once thought to occur only in the large metropolitan areas such as New York City, Chicago, Detroit, etc., but they are now gradually being seen with increasing frequency in less urbanized areas.  This is yet another example of where our “eternal vigilance” is needed to prevent an erosion of our liberty.