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The cartels have also militarized. Bit of a vicious cycle we’re in.
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Yes, the cartels have always been at war with the Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigation Division...
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You say it sarcastically, but any law enforcement agency is an enemy of the cartels goals and therefore at risk in the event of intervention.
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When was the last confirmed cartel violence against any US LEA on US soil?

Cartel leadership have openly stated that any such thing would be the height of counterproductive stupidity on their part due to the overwhelming response that it would elicit.

The last confirmed incident was in the 90s. There was an incident in Texas a couple of days after Trump was inaugurated but this seems a little lacking in concrete details or threat: across the river, no video evidence, no injuries, no bullets recovered, no suspects, no identification, just a broad "description" of the shooters as "likely cartel members".

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> Why is there so much demand for military grade surveillance?

Because there's just not enough room in the budget for things like community engagement, rehabilitation programs, and similar things, so we have to spend millions on military surveillance gear to compensate for the absence of community engagement, rehabilitation programs, and similar things. Isn't it obvious?

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John Oliver did a report on militarization of police 11 years ago. It's only become worse since: https://youtu.be/KUdHIatS36A?is=C86HI8463VZnqjXU
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And Radley Balko blogged about it every day 20 years ago before publishing a book in 2013 literally subtitled as The Militarization of America’s Police
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