50 Police Dressed as Ninjas

Katherine Mangu-Ward | July 5, 2007

Brian Barnard, "a civil-rights attorney in Salt Lake City who has watched the growth of SWAT teams over the past 30 years," looks at the increased cooperation and technology exchange between cops and soldiers and asks:

"Do you really need 50 police dressed as ninjas raiding a house in the middle of the night because someone sold a pound of marijuana a week ago?"

Radley Balko has a back belt in inappropriate SWAT police tactics.

Merchandising offer: To get your favorite cop/ninja a t-shirt, mug, or thong with the logo at right, click here. (Also available in pirate.)

UPDATE: The sales pitch for the thong: "Toss these message panties onstage at your favorite rock star or share a surprise message with someone special ... later." It'll be a surprise indeed when someone wearing this thong comes a-knockin'.

Comments

|7.5.07 @ 4:00PM|#

But I don't want to be a pirate.

TallDave|7.5.07 @ 4:00PM|#

I really think the Ask A Ninja guy needs to weigh in on this.

|7.5.07 @ 4:12PM|#

Isn't a back belt the thing that the sales clerks at Home Depot always wear?

Timothy|7.5.07 @ 4:18PM|#

You already agreed to wear the puffy shirt, Grotius.

|7.5.07 @ 4:24PM|#

But I don't want to be a pirate.

Not even Jean Lafitte?

|7.5.07 @ 4:25PM|#

Middle-aged Mutant Ninga Policemen

Randolph Carter|7.5.07 @ 4:27PM|#

or my rockin ancestress Grace O'Malley?

|7.5.07 @ 4:37PM|#

Do you really need 50 police...

I know that's supposed to be rhetorical, but I'd have more respect for the plain statement: You don't need 50...

Jeremy|7.5.07 @ 4:38PM|#

Tbone, I think a back belt is the thing weightlifters wear.

TallDave|7.5.07 @ 4:57PM|#

Ninja weightlifters?

|7.5.07 @ 5:05PM|#

""Do you really need 50 police dressed as ninjas raiding a house in the middle of the night because someone sold a pound of marijuana a week ago?""

We must need them, or they wouldn't be there.

Thanx, and a hat tip to our friend, Dan T.

Nephilium|7.5.07 @ 5:24PM|#

I say bah! The true winner between the eternal battle of ninja police vs. pirate police is...

Celtic police! 50 men naked except for woad, torcs, and spears charging into the house.

Nephilium

Grotius\' Mom|7.5.07 @ 5:25PM|#

But I don't want to be a pirate.

I know, Dear, but the Pliny the Elder costumes were all sold out.

LarryA|7.5.07 @ 5:37PM|#

"Do you really need 50 police dressed as ninjas raiding a house in the middle of the night because someone sold a pound of marijuana a week ago?"

Particularly when the story starts out, "After a two-year investigation..."

|7.5.07 @ 6:00PM|#

Celtic police! 50 men naked except for woad, torcs, and spears charging into the house.

An unfortunate consequence of the "Woad on Drugs" policy.

Garth|7.5.07 @ 6:42PM|#

must. bring. back. classic.:

http://www.realultimatepower.net/index4.htm

Grotius|7.5.07 @ 8:08PM|#

D.A.R.'s friends,

Do we have to talk about Wittgenstein again?

Grotius|7.5.07 @ 8:11PM|#

D.A.R.,

Not that there is anything wrong with that*.

*Talking about Wittgenstein that is.

D.A. Ridgely|7.5.07 @ 9:40PM|#

Grotius:

FWIW, I assumed the first comment under your name was genuine when I indulged myself in a bit of whimsy. If it wasn't really you, at least know that it wasn't me posting as you, either.

Grotius|7.6.07 @ 2:15AM|#

D.A.R.,

It was me. I was quoting Seinfeld. Of course, Kramer wanted to be a pirate. Not that there is anything wrong with that (being a pirate that is).

Man, I miss Seinfeld.

Gary Farber|7.6.07 @ 5:07PM|#

"Radley Balko has a back belt in inappropriate SWAT police tactics."

You're saying that Radley wears a truss, then?