News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Marines mobilized in response to LA protests by closewith on Tuesday June 10, 2025 @03:16AM (#44233666)
That is not universally true. A Gendarmerie is literally a military force with law enforcement duties and many are exactly that.

In the Netherlands, the Royal Marechaussee are literal soldiers who perform military police duties and also many civilian policing duties, but all of them are soldiers first.

Re:Marines mobilized in response to LA protests by close04 on Tuesday June 10, 2025 @04:18AM (#44234040)
> A Gendarmerie is literally a military force with law enforcement duties

The second part is a huge differentiator from "normal" military. A police force even if administratively under the military has one crucial differentiator: their daily duties and training revolve almost exclusively around policing civilians from the same country. Military training and tactics are overwhelmingly aimed at dealing with foreign enemy combatants, mainly other military forces.

The methods give away the intentions and expected outcome. The US already has a very "militarized" police force. You send actual military only if you want to inflict the maximum amount of damage, and with that threat overwhelmingly scare the country into compliance.

Re:Marines mobilized in response to LA protests by closewith on Tuesday June 10, 2025 @04:35AM (#44234143)
> their daily duties and training revolve almost exclusively around policing mainly civilians, citizens of the same country.

That is the part that is not universally true. There are plenty of Gendarmeries who are soldiers first, with combat training and ethos, who also perform policing duties, the Marechaussee included.

Re:Marines mobilized in response to LA protests by close04 on Tuesday June 10, 2025 @05:05AM (#44234349)
> plenty of Gendarmeries who are soldiers first

Fair enough, but Wikipedia confirms that they all have civilian law enforcement and police duties so clearly their training, tactics, and experience revolve heavily around dealing with civilians.

I'll still take that over "soldiers only", even more with US's very active military where the soldiers routinely see active combat. Both the theory and practice shapes their "soldier vs. enemy combatant" world view. That's a hammer if I've ever seen one.

Re:Marines mobilized in response to LA protests by forty on Tuesday June 10, 2025 @05:42AM (#44234644)
Yes, sorry, I was answering only regarding the French gendarmerie, which I thought was made clear by the fact it's a French word but it turns out to be used more broadly.
Re:Marines mobilized in response to LA protests by davedx on Tuesday June 10, 2025 @06:04AM (#44234802)
It's not the same though:

* when used domestically, it's under the Minister of Justice and Security

* there's also no Dutch equivalent of the U.S. presidency with unilateral executive control over the military

I'd argue this kind of danger is something you get more in presidential systems. Not that we all shouldn't be wary of military forces within our civilian populations.