We’re all for safety and security, but when the military deploys “courtesy patrols” to police city streets in America at the behest of an elected official, in this case the Mayor of Columbus, Georgia, it should raise an eyebrow.

The Mayor of Columbus has good intentions, but then, the road to hell is paved with those, is it not?

Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 (18 U.S.C. § 1385):

Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

Source: § 1385

According to the report, however, the soldiers will not be acting in a ‘policing’ capacity, in that their job duties will not include detainment, arrest, or seizure, thus the actions taken by the Mayor and the military may circumvent the Posse Comitatus Act.

As we’ve reported previously, there may come a day when you’ll see US military personnel deployed at every Seven-Eleven in America for the sake of security. We are, just as with the TSA’s patdown policies, being desensitized to the idea of military patrols.

Those Americans like the women interviewed in the video clip below, who would sacrifice personal freedom for security, likely have little idea for why Posse Comitatus was passed in the first place – or that such a law even exists. In fact, in the interviewees own words, the patrols “might not be enough.” One day soon it may be more than enough and Americans may get a chance to see why military policing is a danger to liberty. As we have previously noted the Pentagon and Military Actively War Gaming ‘Large Scale Economic Breakdown’ and ‘Civil Unrest’ and the National Guard is Training For Riot Control and Mass Detentions.

Coming soon to an American street corner near you.

UPDATED: 04-25-2011 12:20 PM (User feedback has made it necessary for us to update the language of this report to more accurately reflect our views. It was not our intention to suggest that the Mayor of Columbus is guilty of violating Posse Comitatus)