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SWAT cops to ask for IDs from everyone in Arkansas town

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posted on Dec, 19 2012 @ 05:12 PM
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A new member joined today and attempted to post this information in the "Introductions" forum (which we all know is a no no). They attempted to post it 3 times and was 404rd in all attempts but it is obvious they were trying to get this information out. I had clicked on the RT link to read the article and although it seems out of the ordinary and even to the extreme it seems to be true. I then did a search to see if it has been covered by others. There are a lot of "conspiracy" type sites covering it but I did find it also on Huffington Post, so I thought I would help them out and post the information.

SWAT cops to ask for IDs from everyone in Arkansas town


There isn’t a lot to do in Paragould, Arkansas, but residents of the town of barely 25,000 seem to have no problem finding trouble. Now in order to curb the rising crime rate, the city is proposing heavily armed police patrol the streets on foot.

At a town hall meeting on Thursday, Mayor Mike Gaskill and Police Chief Todd Stovall endorsed a plan to send cops dressed in full-fledged SWAT gear and equipped with AR-15s into downtown Paragould starting in 2013.

The militarized police force will be tasked with trying to control a crime rate that has made Paragould an increasingly dangerous place to live in recent years. According to statistics collected by city-data.com, Paragould has had a property crime index rating more than double the national average since 2007. Rapes, burglaries, thefts and assaults per capita are also well above the mean there, statistically suggesting Paragould is perhaps the least-safe among area cities....
Source: rt.com...



"We're going to do it to everybody," he said. "Criminals don't like being talked to."Gaskill backed Stovall's proposed actions during Thursday's town hall. "They may not be doing anything but walking their dog," he said. "But they're going to have to prove it." . . .

Stovall said he did not consult an attorney before announcing his plans to combat crime.

Stovall added that he realized there was little difference between what he was proposing and martial law--and that he didn't much care.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com...

There are many sites talking about this and a simple Google search of the title of this thread will give them to you.

So what does this mean? Is it practice? Is it over stepping "Assumed" Authority? It seems to me that this little town of 25,000 would be a good place to to check out tactics and gain valuable information on how to maintain a larger area. Here is a youtube video on the situation.



posted on Dec, 19 2012 @ 05:27 PM
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Well if you live in that town and actually agree to this nonsense, shame on you.
This isn't Nazi Germany and there's no "papers please" rhetoric allowed.
If I lived there, I most certainly would not show my "ID" to prove anything.

This is getting out of hand.

If the police can't handle the crime in a city of 25,000...they need re-trained.
Apparently the force isn't with them.









posted on Dec, 19 2012 @ 05:30 PM
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the ineptitude of the police force showing it's true colors.

in a town of 25,000, using the "6 degree of separation" theory, you can piss out of your car window and hit a guy who knows who the criminals are and who is causing all the trouble.

so to lock down the entire town and turn it into his little private 3rd reich, with him (mayor) as supreme chancellor and a brownshirted gestapo unit led by the chief of police, checking i.d., it's time to get a grip, pull up your pants and find out what's going on.



posted on Dec, 19 2012 @ 05:35 PM
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Local news confirming.
www.digtriad.com... se-Assault-Rifles-Demand-ID-

I wonder what the legal gun per capita is for this area.


Looks like this may be an affiliate news source out of North Carolina
edit on 19-12-2012 by LAMudd because: Correction



posted on Dec, 19 2012 @ 05:43 PM
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How can they afford this? Towns/cities all across the country are cutting their police force but they are able to not only maintain but increase? Hmmm... I wonder whos backing this...

Could you image how funny it would be if someone organized like 20,000 people to come to that town for like a week straight. Theres no way they could keep up. I used to live in a town with about 5k people and we only had about 3 full time police and a hand full of part-timers (plus the sheriffs of course). So my guess is they only have 10-15 full time police.
edit on 19-12-2012 by 1plusXisto7billion because: (no reason given)



posted on Dec, 19 2012 @ 05:43 PM
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reply to post by Agarta
 


i saw it last night myself
good on you for re-posting

F&S

often when i see an interesting thread that gets 404'd i google it myself and usually find the subject

lol was thinking of you just now since as you can see i've changed avys
but i managed to re-size it more or less [ oh well, its only for until after the 21st anyway
]

OT people usually get the government they deserve

everybody in that town needs to come out in force and numbers and demand the resignation of Everybody
behind this abuse.

or bend over starting now, without complaint



"We're going to do it to everybody," he said. "Criminals don't like being talked to."Gaskill backed Stovall's proposed actions during Thursday's town hall. "They may not be doing anything but walking their dog," he said. "But they're going to have to prove it." . . .


note how they are pre-emptively judging as guilty before being proven guilty, not to mention shifting the burden of proof from themselves to the pre-accussed. note also the dirty talk: "We're going to do it to everybody,"
you can tell they're drooling and fondling themselves, power-tripping freaks that they are
edit on 19-12-2012 by DerepentLEstranger because: edit



posted on Dec, 19 2012 @ 07:10 PM
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bump:

hopefully citizen action won't need to go as far as The Battle of Athens of 1946
but if necessary...

The Battle of Athens (sometimes called the McMinn County War) was a rebellion led by citizens in Athens and Etowah, Tennessee, United States, against the local government in August 1946. The citizens, including some World War II veterans, accused the local officials of political corruption and voter intimidation. The event is sometimes cited by firearms ownership advocates as an example of the value of the Second Amendment in combating tyranny.





posted on Dec, 19 2012 @ 08:27 PM
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reply to post by Agarta
 

Cops are pawns, doing what the chief, mayor, and city counsel tell them what to do and how.

The political pressure to act was created by the innocent citizens who live there, baracaded in their homes in fear for their lives because of crime running rampant in their streets. Little old people peering through the blinds, they feel like prisoners inside their homes, unable to do anything about the evil developing in front of them.... Calling on their commissioners, senators and congressmen demanding action.

It doesn't look good, but if thugs are roaming the streets, what is a 'prettier' way to try and identify the bad guys roaming around the streets at night without a little stop and chat? A temporary show of presence, to show the bad guys that the heat is on, might actually reduce crime for awhile.

If you we're mayor, how would you aggresively answer the demands of your towns people...what would you do to stop escalating crime in its tracks?

Remember, you have kids to get through college and you want to seek reelection... You will need that support because you actually did something, and didn't just sit there on your hands.
edit on 19-12-2012 by Lonewulph because: (no reason given)



posted on Dec, 22 2012 @ 12:19 PM
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reply to post by Agarta
 


Found a few related stories that make this a bit more fleshed out.

This one is from July 10, 2012 in Paragould's city paper. It concerns reserve officers, all volunteers, being set up as unpaid officers after minimum training.
www.paragoulddailypress.com...

Then this one from a local news channel KAIT 8 written Tuesday December 11, 2012. It states that the remaining 2 town hall meetings in Paragould regarding crime were canceled. Thursdays announcement happened at meeting number 2 out of a scheduled 4.
m.kait8.com...

Finally, a repost of the December 15, 2012 Paragould newspaper article that the ominous quotes from the chief of police appear.
www.paragoulddailypress.com...

My question is did they announce martial law for 2013 and then cancel any following town hall meeting to remove any possibility of public dissent being brought up in an officially scheduled public forum?

This is seriously shady.
edit on 22-12-2012 by rmtfox because: correcting information



posted on Dec, 22 2012 @ 01:09 PM
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reply to post by 1plusXisto7billion
 
Well lets see there is the DHS, TSA and FEMA just to name a few, that could be used in place of the local LEO's when you have a Governor that openly states a gun confiscation is one idea, we are in trouble

In the interview, Mr. Cuomo did not offer specifics about the measures he might propose, but, while discussing assault weapons, he said: “Confiscation could be an option. Mandatory sale to the state could be an option. Permitting could be an option — keep your gun but permit it.”
the above is NY times Dec 20, 2012.



posted on Dec, 22 2012 @ 01:50 PM
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reply to post by Lonewulph
 

Require the police, the hired mercenary's, to patrol the streets and actually enforce the law or fire them. I would fire each and every one of the police who said he was afraid to go on the streets and enforce the law. This is occurring not so much because the citizen's are afraid as because the POLICE are afraid to do their job without massive firepower and freedom from laws limiting their authority.



posted on Dec, 22 2012 @ 02:29 PM
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reply to post by Lonewulph
 


From what I've read this has nothing to do with little old ladies peering through blinds and everything to do with a mayor who wants to wield power he has no right to wield.



posted on Dec, 22 2012 @ 02:39 PM
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I actually have a buddy that lives in Paragould. I'm chatting with him about all this now. He isn't proving to be much help, though. Just says 'yes, the crime is bad here.'
But that doesn't get to the root of the problem. Why is the crime so high? This is a small town. Are the police not doing their job? Thugs moving into the area? There are larger cities nearby.



posted on Dec, 22 2012 @ 02:48 PM
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That is what the Second Amendment is for.
People taking Personal Responsibility for their own safety.
Relying on the Nanny State to protect us at airports, bus terminals, and now schools continues to go down a slippery slope towards tyranny where the state has all the control and the people have none.

And with me having to pay for it out my tax dollars, so that private contractors and arms dealers can make even more bucks.

Quite Disgusting actually.


Originally posted by Lonewulph
reply to post by Agarta
 

Cops are pawns, doing what the chief, mayor, and city counsel tell them what to do and how.

The political pressure to act was created by the innocent citizens who live there, baracaded in their homes in fear for their lives because of crime running rampant in their streets. Little old people peering through the blinds, they feel like prisoners inside their homes, unable to do anything about the evil developing in front of them.... Calling on their commissioners, senators and congressmen demanding action.




posted on Dec, 22 2012 @ 02:54 PM
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Drug related crime is what I'm gathering. Specifically meth. Petty theft.

So OBVIOUSLY the answer is Martial Law.


ETA: And apparently they have a large Police Force...
edit on 22-12-2012 by JayinAR because: (no reason given)



posted on Dec, 22 2012 @ 03:08 PM
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I see this as nothing more then a form of gestapo menacing harassment that has gone to far. Someone that lives there needs to pay a visit to the district attorney's office and/or call the Sheriffs department. Couple of goon cops out grasping at straws stopping everyone is BS and a breach of peace. If that don't work call the city mayor and if that doesn't work call the state senator. Just keep escalating it to the next top brass, because if no one does nothing then nothing will be done.



posted on Dec, 22 2012 @ 03:11 PM
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Also, I guess they're only sending SWAT into the hardest hot neighborhoods on the East Side of town. Still shady, IMO. But not quite as bad as patrolling the entire city.

People there are viewing it as a violation of their rights but an almost necessary move to keep their kids safe.



posted on Dec, 22 2012 @ 03:35 PM
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"We feel that with the strong feelings on both sides of the Street Crimes Unit issue, a safe and productive meeting would not be the probable outcome."

Four total meetings were scheduled to take place. The remaining meetings were to focus on crime and safety for residents living on the west and south sides of Paragould.

This is from this article.
m.kait8.com...

any thoughts on this quote our the article in question?

I feel like they struck down the follow up meetings to force people's dissent to have to be expressed independently rather than in a legitimate scheduled public forum.



posted on Dec, 22 2012 @ 05:33 PM
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Originally posted by JayinAR

People there are viewing it as a violation of their rights but an almost necessary move to keep their kids safe.


But where do we draw the line? Think about the lengths we have gone to in the war on terror. Will it ever end? If you start allowing this, other Towns and cities will jump on board before to long and when it starts, what will make it go away? They always find reasons to keep it going!



posted on Dec, 22 2012 @ 05:43 PM
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reply to post by rmtfox
 


Oh, I hear ya.
I'm just reporting what I have heard from someone who is there.
I mean, I agree it's wrong, but if the people there allow it to happen, there is very little that can be done. It's a local gov issue.







 
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