With the threat of another case of civil unrest planned in Ferguson on August 9th law enforcement officers have seeken out a guardian angel of sorts to protect them from what could be a very aggressive group of “protesters”. The Ferguson Police will be implementing the use of snipers to provide “overwatch” for the 300 officers that have been called in to handle the Anniversary proceedings.
There are many who will debate the “militarization” of the police. Both sides of the argument have their points, but one cannot debate the glaring truth that the “bad guys” are already leading the way. With recent news stories like the shooters in Baton Rouge and Dallas both being trained in combat and familiar to the ways of warfare it’s not a fair fight against most officers.
The use of snipers, or “overwatch” is not uncommon on the 
battlefield. Snipers have saved countless soldiers lives with their unclouded view of the situation, with more than just precision shooting. The ability of overwatch to see above the crowd is an excellent source of intelligence gathering and observation. Marksmen like the legendary Chris Kyle and Nicholas Irving saved countless American lives with their skills. Chris Kyle was providing over-watch and protected an entire squad with just 2 shots.
In An-Nasiriyah, Iraq. Kyle’s platoon was assigned to “overwatch” the Marines, protecting them as they made their searches. In order to prevent ambushes, his platoon took over a run-down building overlooking the street. This way, Kyle could keep an eye on the Marines as they started knocking down doors. However, he wasn’t yet qualified as a sniper, and his chief petty officer was watching the street with a .300 Winchester Magnum. But when the officer needed a break, he handed the gun to Kyle. About 45 meters (150 ft) from Kyle’s perch, a door opened, and out stepped a woman and a child. As the Marines drew closer, the woman reached under her clothes and yanked the pin from a Chinese grenade. The chief told Kyle to shoot, but he initially hesitated. Then he pulled the trigger twice, one shot hitting the woman and the other exploding the grenade. The child was uninjured.
Before some of you hop on the bandwagon saying things to the effect of “Oh look how terrible these officers are!” Pull your collective heads out, and think, have you ever been to a stadium event, like a football game? Did you know that MOST stadiums have a local law enforcement group providing some sort of overwatch for the fans? Check This out, tactical-life writes-
As Americans, we enjoy large public venues such as concerts, sports and political events stadium sniper presented at arenas and stadiums all over this country. We go to watch our kids or professionals play sports, musicians perform and even monster trucks roar and jump—accompanied by hundreds or thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of fellow spectators.
Who provides the protection if someone in the crowd decides to go berserk, fulfill a violent plan or enact a terrorist plot? Without any fanfare and generally unseen, a lot of venues have law enforcement over-watch already setup to ensure that this does not occur. Precision law enforcement special operation shooters are deployed with the ability to observe and, if necessary, intervene to stop the threat from their final firing positions (FFP).
So why shouldn’t our LEO’s be provided the same level of 
protection? With the frequent pot shots taken at police by the cowards at the Ferguson riots, we think that this extra precaution is a great idea. I hope more police commanders have the balls to do this all over the country. How likely are you to pop your head out from an alley and take pot shots if there is a sniper on overwatch? Just the morale boost of some one watching their back is enough to help these nearly 300 brave men and women keep the town from destroying itself all over again. Hopefully this August 9th goes over as just another day, but it’s good to know that just in case stupid people decide to play stupid games, some one will be there to give them a stupid prize.