By Naomi Wolf. Reposting this, five alarm alert, this is so important:
And I AM SO MAD. I just went to TD bank, my bank on eighth avenue; an NYPD OFFICER in full NYPD uniform, gun, radio etc was standing there — as a SECURITY GUARD. His name is Battle. I asked — alerted by Autumn — if TD bank now hired NYPD — I didn’t add ‘wearing uniforms’. He said yes, it was a part-time job.
I thought this through and I am ENRAGED. WE HAVE TO TAKE ACTION. I can see people moonlighting on off hours. Though it is a conflict. But if you can hire A UNIFORMED NEW YORK CITY POLICE OFFICER…if you are a bank — well:
Would Occupy which had such success in 2011 protesting in banks — dare to stage a protest? The officer can presumably arrest them right there; and he is not working for me, in enforcing New York City’s law; he can presumably call in NYPD reinforcements on his radio, summon the whole apparatus of the NYPD — for his employer the bank. When he is supposed to work for me and for you.
If TD bank can hire an NYPD uniformed officer…so can Chase, Goldman Sachs, Halliburton Exxon etc etc …and if TD bank can hire one…what stops Exxon from hiring THE WHOLE DAMN ARMY of your local police? And if most or many of your local police also work for corporations — how will you get justice from them? As I personally experienced — I had fraud in a bank, in my case Chase, and I tried to get it investigated by my local police precinct — and I found, mysteriously at the time, not to mysteriously now, that the police wouldn’t even subpoena the bank’s records that clearly showed fraud, and stopped the investigation at every turn (then, of course, Chase sent me a legal letter threatening action against me if I wrote about it). If you too are harmed or defrauded by a bank — when the banks are hiring the folks who are tasked with investigating and punishing such wrongdoing – what will your recourse be? I am here to tell you that there is none.
Not to mention the whole range of things you as citizens won’t ever be able to do re accountability in the future if private industry can hire your police forces away from defending your interests and impartial law — not to mention that his uniform, radio, gun etc etc and all his backup are purchased by my tax dollar..that TD bank is benefiting from without paying for them!
Between this huge step — the somehow behind our backs legalization of hiring out our police forces to corporations WHILE THEY ARE IN UNIFORM…and the drones coming in 2013 — you don’t need a coup — because the millions sunk by DHS into local law enforcement will just be bought up by corporations hiring your local police, to make you be, finally, without protection or access to the rule of law…please please share widely.
I can’t help thinking that banks are hiring police not because they need the security — but in order to hire, ie compromise, the ability of the police to act in the interests of citizens that might be in opposition to the interests of the banks, post-Occupy.
This is terribly terribly serious. Please lease share and start passing legislation to outlaw this practice. This is one of those ‘we have no time to let this grow’ trends. We have to outlaw this, city by city.
http://www.facebook.com/naomi.wolf.author/posts/10151273211859476
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