Massachusetts police get black uniforms to instill sense of 'fear'

Confusing 'black' people with the colour black is misleading as most 'black' people aren't actually black it is just a term given to them to distinguish them from 'white' people who aren't actually white either.

Black as a colour doesn't instill fear, as such, but has a psychological affect on most people, whether you are white, black, brown, yellow, or whatever.

This psychological affect has its origins way back in Man's distant past when in prehistory dark places were full of mystery, potential danger which did instill an element of psychological distress. The prime reason for this is that like at night the human vision is less effectual than during the day so entering a dark place without illumination one is guarded by the fact one does not know what one is going to encounter.

The latter has evolved over the milennia, to give us a natural fear/cautiousness of dark, and especially black things. Also black objects, or forms affect our eyesight in the manner that the lack of reflective light subconciously warns us to be cautious as black forms confuse the eye to the actual form due to the lack of reflectivity. Black forms tend not to afford as good detail as light ones hence the confusion.

So what has evolved is the feeling of danger, or caution of it, since ancient times.

For example the ancient good gods came from the light heavens, the bad gods came from the dark underworld.

Since then writers, artists, playwrights, TV and film producers have depicted the difference between good and evil with this psychological phenomen. If we see a play and a character appears in black we automatically assume they are bad, or evil.

Thomas Malory used this in his stories of King Arthur, as the bad knight was the 'Black Knight'.

Dracula wears a black cloak.

The famous scene in 'Empire Strikes Back' of the light sabre duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, Luke wears white and Vader wears black so enforcing the battle between good and evil.

In the 'Lord of the Rings' the battle for Minas Tirith Gandolf is in white, Minas Tirith is white and called the White Tower, the soldiers of Gondor wear light armour.
The forces of Mordor are in black or dark clothing, Mordor is a barren black waste, the entrance to Mordor is via the Black Gate.
So here we see again the illustrative use of white and black, as the battle between good and evil.

Black also signifies death, hence why undertakers at funerals wear black and not white. Doctors have white coats, because they want to convey goodness. If you were in hospital and a doctor came up to you all in back you would probably think the worst.

Hitler used black again for the same affect.

As you can see a black uniform is not really condusive, for people who are apparently on the side of right, like the police ought to be.

The cop in the photo has a needle in his hand because FOX wants to scare you, not because MA is scary. It's a very liberal state, in fact, and the only people afraid of MA are people like Bill O'Riley.

Deval Patrick asks us to imagine a nation without fear.

Hey, let's ALL wear black so they can blend in with the rest of us! They would fit in PERFECTLY at a death metal concert!

I highly doubt people are going to stop commiting crimes because of the way cops dress.

"Hey man, don't steal that!''

"Why not?'

"Didn't you hear...? Cops are wearing black now..."

Who is paying for the new uniforms anyway? Citizens are paying for and openly discussed scare-tactic that won't work.

It's like sneaking up and someone to scare them but then anouncing that you're right behind them. It's rediculous.

Black uniforms? Why don't they just hire two "big" black dudes to scare people. Oh, they probably would kill them too!

look man im sorry but i hope you're joking people shouldn't be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people. as far as i'm concerned the police shouldn't be trying to scare anyone that they only suspect have commited a crime. it should not be an excuse to trample our rights more than they already do. four freedoms speech by FDR summed up
1. Freedom of speech and expression
2. Freedom of religion
3. Freedom from want
4. Freedom from fear
these freedoms apply to everyone and the police's intention is not only to instill a sense of fear in criminals but regular people as well because they really want to prevent crimes as well instead of having to clean up after most of them

scarier is better when dealing with young criminals, which is their focus. because young criminals can't be negotiated with or expected to respect the law because they are too young. they are raised to disrespect the law. what will get through to them? fear.

this combined with a new camera security system for nyc equals one fucked up east coast

Go ahead, change your uniforms to make yourself more scary, but don't make a press release and thell the world.

In today's world of increasing police brutality cases like Sean Bell, the riots in LA, Sharpton acting the fool in the Bronx, it is shameful for a police department to push the fact that they are making themselves scarier a deterent.

It is ridiculous and the comissioner responsible for bragging about this should be fired or demoted.

The glove and needle? Really a stupid move in marketing and image making. Perhaps it's an ad for diabetic supplies?

Here's an idea, do better police work, create a better image in the community deserving of respect through professionalism and trust not intimidation.

A nedd to appear more scary comes from a position of fear and is a element of escalation.

Escalate, escalate until you have bagdad in boston. IS that what they want?

Tough guys, ah! The act of power is a condition were thinking is not an option.

Trying to Neuter real men for a conditional life. What do you think about that?

it's funny how everyone thinks that black uniforms translate to them getting ultimate power. if you haven't done anything wrong, shut your mouth, because it doesn't pertain to you

Don't stop there, give them black capes as well.

Actually batman looks pretty scary, how about every Massachusetts police man has a pointy hat too. That or a darth vader helmet. Give them a choice.

I live in Milwaukee where Edward Flynn came in as chief of police, and already has reduced crime in the city dramatically, its not about the color of uniforms, it's about strategically hitting high crime areas and making bold statements that crime will not be tolerated by hitting the streets hard and taking down high profile criminals, if Flynn where to come to Milwaukee and change the color of the uniforms to make a bold statement to criminals they would have laughed and challenged the police even more, the only people it scares is actual law abiding citizens that really don't do anything wrong except blow a stop sign or something.

The whole notion about instilling fear into people has always back fired. This whole wearing black movement is NOT going to work. The youth are just going to take it as a joke.

If you really want to deal with youth violence then educate. That will last longer and have a better effect.

What colour were they before?

Also ... isn't black usually the 'bad' side? Look at Gandalf.....the white!

Whats really scary if you stop to think about it ...... Is the patriot act and the dept. of homeland security. If they decide to pull you in for whatever, they can hide behind that and hold you indefinitely without having to observe and of your rights as an American citizen.
It was mentioned somewhere in the replies about Blackwater Inc. being used as America's secret police force and the local and state police being forced into a position to act as the yes-men for them (Black shirts).
I would start to worry about who is monitoring what is being said and who is keeping track of it. Remember that even Hitler had his night of a thousand knives. And by the sounds of it, burning books just might be coming back into fashion.

They already have egos that are scary enough. What more do they want to spend our tax dollars on. Taxsachussets is rich enough. Extortion motivation for the ego power!
I'm scared now!

the image becomes ego.

Ok this is not nearly as big a deal as some people are making it. It does seem like a little bit of a waste of money to replace all those uniforms but I think there's also a problem with "softening the image" of the people that enforce the law. I don't give a crap what color the police's shirts are, if their orders involve martial law they can do it in any goddamn color.

aren't cops supposed to be scary anyways. they do have guns.

Yeah, because when you think of the police force, you have to think "to be feared"!

police state? have you guys read the PATRIOT Act? We've been in a police state for years now...

All those rights like privacy, habeus corpus, protection from unlawful search and seizure, and the ban on military use against civilians went out the window then. And introduce the likes of Blackwater and we now have what we fondly call the "Secret Police" in other countries....

Please wake up. Arm yourself with knowledge against the state and be vigilent. There are those in and outside of our government that believe we are peasants to be herded and kept.

police state everyone? honestly? we're talking about massachusetts, doesn't seem to problematic... my local police wear black... so what? they are dumb to say black dress incites fear and it is dumb to assume a police state will result because of it.

AcehardChester: agreed. respect is hard to find w/ cops. i just hope they maintain their humanity enough to treat people like people in almost any circumstance.

riverdeer..... go back to sleep

Here comes the Police State!

police are too soft that is why crime is so bad, not the police fault they have no choice.

What the heck are they thinking? It'll probably never work and cause even more problems than they are trying to fix. They should carry big guns like the .519 (I think) caliper Raptor rifle.

Someone said Black IS Sexy..and he is totally right. I love black and it does get my blood going. So, it depends on the person if Black scares you and that is totally fine. Red scared my relative. I use to be scared of wearing pink, but I do now.
Thats the problem with (most of) the police. They want to intimidate you, scare you even if you are innocent. Walking all over your constitutional rights is fun for them, the don't give a flying F---. The USA is a police state. Its happening so subtlety it goes unnoticed until things like this happen, and then only a few notice..then a few more! It'll be too late by the time everyone realizes.
People in the USA are so scared of standing up for whats right. Bush and his cronies take and take and hardly a whisper is heard. (He even stole the election) Time for some non violent demonstration by the masses, not just the few who are caring for the USA's future. Dream up something unique....save your selves..Save what America was meant to be, not what a few (greedy, power hungry) Americans WANT it to be. America can be saved. America can then save the world.

Haha malathion

"Soldiers who are not afraid of guns, bombs, capture, torture or death say they are afraid of homosexuals. Clearly we should not be used as soldiers; we should be used as weapons."
~ Letter to the Editor, The Advocate

lol malathion..you need to go to timeout for that comment

ooooh weee oooooh ninja!!!!!

wgaf

a power hungry cop in black doesn't scare me, but a power hungry cop with a gun does.

mass. is definitely wasting their time.

a 14 inch black latex dildo as a sidearm will demand respect .

We already fear the police. What is causing so much trouble is that too few respect them.

Black for fear, huh? So I take it the shields will soon be replaced by skulls... and motto of "To Protect and Serve" will be replaced with "Obey or Die"... and the truncheon will replace the parking ticket. Those too would do well to instill FEAR in society.

"People should not be afraid of their Governments, governments should be afraid of their people" - V from the movie "V for Vendetta"

Black=Fear. Who knew? It's one step away from the old cowboy movie concept...White=Good, Black=Evil.

Those uniforms aren't scary, they're sexy! You can arrest me Mr. Officer, I've been very, very naughty....

going with the whole black leather fetish thing - if cops would just dress up as full on macho gay anal dominators they would scare the hell out of everyone so much that no cop would need to carry a gun - trust me .

So They Wanna look like SS black coat=Similar to what Hitler's Troop's looked like...Shame on Them,Say NO to NEO-Conservative Murder's..Plus Remember Stalin Yes Stalin in order for him to Make his own UNION not Labor union's or Workforce Union's..But GLOBAL UNION's HE KILLED OVER 28 MILLION People to Create the Soviet UNION-HE KILLED OFF THE MIDDLE CLASS,In order to Contribute to his part of the New World Order...Stalin,Hitler,Mussolini and Japanese Imperialist's were all evil,..plus the Dishonorable and disloyal Imperialist's try to use the Honor and Loyalty of "Legend of the Samurai",to brain wash the japanese into believe that what they where doing was Good...Shame on them..Dont let history repeat itself..1

This is a terrible idea. Most people hate cops as it is and black, militaristic uniforms are NOT going to help in creating a healthy relationship between the general public and the authorities. Many people know the power of the law and don't need fascist undertones to remind them of that. If the authorities are worried about youth violence they should discover the reasons for it, not attempt to scare us with new uniforms.

At least I can call them stormtroopers and mean it now!

WHATS NEXT..... STORM TROOPERS

'Blackwater' America's own private, army, police, instruments of a 'decider' who decided, if it's unconstitutional to use our own military against us, he will use his own private military.

Are there are any rules governing their behavior? We don't want Iraq justice. American justice worked for many years. 'Blackwater' is bidding for contracts to work in the United States. They would not bid if there weren’t a plan for their usage!

When they are done, Americans won't be able to distinguish between public and private police. That explains the need to go black. Blackwater has done some pretty terrible things in Iraq with no accountability. Do you really think we will have accountability in the future if they are here?

‘Martial law’ made easy, with 'private police' ready to co-mingle with regular local police. Problem is they will change our local police mentality to theirs (crash and burn) justice. Blackwater (a private army) is something to FEAR!

Didn't the Nazi's have those scary 'brown shirt' guys? Maybe brown is scarier? Then there's red . . .

Maybe they should wear pink 'littish red' - that would certainly stop people in their tracks.

If the color black scares people, then thats almost like saying black people scare everyone.

lol this picture actually made me a little nervous NcSchu so I used it

Why is the cop in the photograph injecting himself?

But, anyway, I kind of think this will just be a waste of time. I doubt uniform color is on the mind of criminals.

"Just look at any motorcycle cops uniform.
Knee high black boots, elbow length gauntlet gloves, mirror glasses.
Your Papers Please!"

Yep! Once we get that National ID or the implanted RFID chip implants, we'll be fully apartheid. Restriction of movement and absolutely no rights.

We're headed right to a police state.

police state anyone?

black does scare people btw

ice cream man, i guess the proof will be in the pudding.

we'll see if it works or not. you'd be amazed at what symbolism is capable of.

for example, an ad campaign in Australia took issue with oversized motor vehicles by relating them to the smallness of a man's penis (he honks and revs his engine, she holds out her pinky and giggles withi her girlfriends). It was majorly effective in driving down the sale of oversized vehicles in Australia.

ooo i'm so scared!!

Why does it have to be black gloves?! There trying to say black automatically scares people. I dont like it...some things never change......

Right. I'm sure that a black man driving a bmw in a nice neighborhood doesn't fear that he'll eventually get stopped, wrongly accused, or shot to death as it is.