Increasing militarization of police in the US employs mass intimidation to the exercise of Free Speech when an entire group is witness to the delivery of writhing pain to one group member by police using overwhelming force.

The number of agencies using TASERS in the US is up from 500 to an astonishing 11,000 during the years of the Bush administration largely due to federal cuts to the COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) program. This step backward has effectively moved funds away from CRIME PREVENTION into the more draconian practice of CRIME CONTROL. The TASER allows enforcement agencies to employ preemptive military tactics against "suspected" law violators.

The Bush administration targeted the COPS program for budget cuts every year since 2001. In fact, in 2003 Bush proposed eliminating COPS altogether. In 2005, Bush sought a staggering 86 percent cut for the COPS program with none of the remaining funds set aside for hiring officers causing massive layoffs. This policy has left law enforcement weaker at a time when national security should have called for more funds for COPS prevention and more police on the streets.

The result could not have been more predictable than if the Bush administration had planned it: The US has suffered a predictable increase (2%) in violent crime with firearms reportedly used 70% of the time.

This degrading trend is expected to create leaner, fewer and meaner police willing to overlook critical First amendment issues in order to stop even peaceful forums from escalating into the aggressive exercise of free speech on a college campus by political activists armed only with only a book and a rare opportunity to speak truth to power.

The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) says Andrew Meyer is a "Threat To Society." Why would local FOP rep., GPD officer Jeff McAdams, subscribe to this libelous statement?