Beck Warns of Increasingly Militarized Local Police Forces: 'How Does That End?

"You have all of these small town, big town police departments getting these military vehicles."

Glenn Beck on Thursday voiced his concerns over increasingly militarized local police forces, saying there seems to be a growing pattern of police overstepping their bounds, and that it could make for a "very bad combination" down the road.

He referenced a string of stories that have exploded on TheBlaze, most recently a uniformed firefighter ending up in handcuffs over where he was parked while responding to a car accident.

A police officer handcuffed a firefighter Tuesday night in Chula Vista, Calif. There was a dispute over where the firefighter was parked while responding to a car crash. (Photo: KFMB-TV)

"We've always had good cops and bad cops," Beck said. "Out of that pool, you are going to have bad people ... but the general direction of our cops is good. [It] always has been good."

But, Beck said, when the "bad apples" aren't immediately removed, and there is no public outcry or even awareness about the growing militarization of our local police forces, there may be an issue.

"You have all of these small town, big town police departments getting these military vehicles," Beck said. "Do you know you can buy a military helicopter for some of these towns for like $60,000? The Pentagon is selling military helicopters for $60,000. You know how much those ... big military vehicles that are fully armored [cost]? They are selling them to towns for $2,000."

"Giving them away, in some cases," Beck's co-host Stu Burguiere added.

Beck told his audience to "look at what they are doing to you at the airport," before saying, "we are moving towards a society where the authoritarian with the uniform gets away with murder, gets away with anything they want to say."

"So you combine the cops overstepping the Constitution and their bounds .... some of them just starting to go dark inside, and the militarization of our police force and you have a very bad combination," Beck remarked. "How does that end?"

Complimentary Clip from TheBlaze TV

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After the discussion, a caller who identified himself as a former law enforcement officer added: "A friend of mine belongs to a sheriff's department, was at an FBI seminar this past year and was told outright, in a seminar grouping, 'You have a choice to make: you either choose the side of the constitutional nuts, or our side.'"

"I was floored," the caller continued. "There is an underlying older group that's trying to fight, and [former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano's] leaked memo years ago identifying veteran and former cops as potential terrorists is so disturbing. But I think the bigger picture ... is to collapse this society economically, socially, culturally, every aspect. And the scheme, I think, the end game, is to make us on par with Mexico and Canada. We are the problem in the progressives' eyes ... because we still believe in individual freedoms, rights, and we have our 2nd Amendment rights. And they are deathly afraid of us."

Complimentary Clip from TheBlaze TV

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