# Impressive show of force in Boston **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 22, 2013, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impressive-show-of-force-in-boston/656397 "2013-04-22T14:21:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impressive-show-of-force-in-boston/656397/21 "2013-04-23T18:07:12Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > That this is why certain elements of the population haven’t gotten around to exercising those “Second Amendment remedies” they love to blather on about. Boston is in Mass. Almost as gun free as Chicago. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impressive-show-of-force-in-boston/656397/22 "2013-04-23T18:08:46Z")
I wonder what the police reaction would have been had this bombing and subsequent incidents occured in, say, 1995? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impressive-show-of-force-in-boston/656397/23 "2013-04-23T18:09:54Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > I wonder what the police reaction would have been had this bombing and subsequent incidents occured in, say, 1995? Is there some particular significance to that year? ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impressive-show-of-force-in-boston/656397/24 "2013-04-23T18:18:46Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > So what do you think the appropriate response should have been? > > You don’t sound “harsh”. Just ignorant. Maybe I posted in the wrong thread really. I was more talking about the entire fascination and fear with terrorism. Do we really need 24 hour news coverage of this for days on end? This will be used as an excuse to spend more billions of dollars on security for every single event where more than 200 people show up. I’ve worked in “security” arena. It’s sometimes sickening the amount of taxpayer money that is spent on “fighting terrorism.” So much of it is just a waste. All of it so a politician or police chief can be sure that nothing happens “on their watch.” We could save way more lives by applying all that money to highway safety (#1 killer of Americans in many age groups), medical research, or probably a whole host of things. I’ve heard reporters asking runners things like, “Are you going to run in another big race, aren’t you concerned about security?” Give me a break, how ofted to people get into their car? That is the most danderous thing we do every day. All the panic induced by events like this just pump up the security machine more. Be sure the keep the public scared. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impressive-show-of-force-in-boston/656397/25 "2013-04-23T18:19:28Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Is there some particular significance to that year? Not really. I initially was going to say '85, but decided that was too far removed. Speculation about '85 might be fun, too. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impressive-show-of-force-in-boston/656397/26 "2013-04-23T18:28:22Z")
The things that bothered me was the way they handle the obviously innocent. Even after frisking, the women had to trot down the street with their hands in the air. There is nothing to stop them using that same equipment for a simple burglary suspect. Same tactics looking for paper work that would have been handed over with for asking. Remember that video? Wonder if we will ever know what wonderful bit of intel caused then to attack that house. Well, they were wrong. And they never will tell how they messed up. No one is responsible when they make horrible blunders. Who will put up $$$ on wither an apology will be offered to the innocent? What surprises me is that the person who took the video is not in jail now. The police are slipping from their usual behavior… ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impressive-show-of-force-in-boston/656397/27 "2013-04-23T18:31:12Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > A mad bomber OTOH, has a randomness and level of dsetruction to it that requires a more immediate response. Yes, and a guy with a knife who stabbed 3 people stabbed 3 people. No doubt these morons would have been happier if their bombs killed 1000 instead of 3. They were going for body count. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impressive-show-of-force-in-boston/656397/28 "2013-04-23T18:31:18Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Not really. I initially was going to say '85, but decided that was too far removed. Speculation about '85 might be fun, too. I think most of the differences in those years past would be the problems in dealing with the relatively unknown concept of terrorism, and lack of cooperation with feds and the many local jurisdictions. The police wouldn’t know what to do and would waste time rounding up the usual suspects, and violate a lot of people’s rights in the process. We wouldn’t have anything like a decent picture of the guys, so wouldn’t have a clue who they were, and we’d have no chance of finding them based on the evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impressive-show-of-force-in-boston/656397/29 "2013-04-23T18:37:58Z")
If I’m not mistken…and I might be, since I haven’t dissected the timeline…the suspects were ‘found’ by police after shooting an officer in his car more or less at random, and then carjacking an SUV and letting the driver go. The pictures and evidence may help lead to the remaining suspect’s conviction but had nothing to do with his initial capture. > [@TriPolar](#): > > I think most of the differences in those years past would be the problems in dealing with the relatively unknown concept of terrorism, and lack of cooperation with feds and the many local jurisdictions. And this is kind of what I was getting at; we now have an entire ‘generation’ of police who have been trained and evolved under the assumption that their mission is homeland security rather than good old police work. Their response is going to automatically be more military-operation oriented than police a couple decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impressive-show-of-force-in-boston/656397/30 "2013-04-23T18:37:58Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > My impression is that law enforcement agencies have taken advantage of public fear of terror and distaste for drugs to spend huge amounts of money on equipment that adds very little to their ability to accomplish their mission. > > I’m regularly astounded but the displays of military equipment displayed at local parades and such in communities no matter how small and safe. Pretty much this. Millions wasted in the name of “homeland security” after 9/11. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/impressive-show-of-force-in-boston/656397.md?page=1)