Police Plan Increased Patrols for Sublimity Harvest Festival‏

This is why we won't be there. The Scotts Mills Summer Festival is an example..Six cops in KEVLAR and fully armed, not smiling, but looking like they were angry about having to be there,facing down about a hundred townspeople who were just trying to visit and enjoy the annual town party. At times , some sat in their car and ran the tags of the cars that came by. It was a ridiculous show of force at a small community celebration that was entirely uncalled for. And this display of power and intimidation was not free...the organizers of the festival had to pay $1800 to the Marion County Sheriffs Dept. for the extra gunmen. As a taxpayer, I was surprised to hear that additional "protection money" had to be paid to have the dubious priveledge of all that "protection". I am all for getting drunk drivers, but the recent militarization of the local police departments is alarming. The friendly local cop that is a comfort and a friend to the people he serves seems to be a thing of the past. I know there are exceptions...I know exceptions, but it seems they are mostly older policemen who have held on to a bit of humanity, and do not see the need to intimidate and scare the people they are supposed to be working for.