Sir, recently we had an incident here in Austin where a young sheriff's officer was shot and killed. I happened to be listening to my police scanner and overheard the police asking if they had a warrant before the arrest. Sir, they did not have a warrant, so the arrest was illegal. Their reply was they want to instill fear in people's mind. I would like to remind you that the great majority of the people rioting have witnessed the fear and terror these tactics instill.
Fear soon becomes hate, and out of a fearful public comes armed insurrection.
Maybe it's time we revised our current national trend of militarization and police violence. Main Street patrons do not come downtown to mingle with the residents and sample inner city flavors. They come to see and be seen by their own in a pseudo-urban theme park. The demographics on a typical Saturday night belie the urban revitalization myth of Main Street. Two cops on every corner shows this is not an infusion of capital for the good of the community.