The events in Ferguson, Missouri this week are an uncomfortable reminder of the militarization of America's small town law enforcement agencies. The photos coming out of the town--of heavily armed officers in full combat gear squaring off against unarmed protesters--look like images we're used to seeing from places like Gaza, Turkey, or Egypt, not from a midwestern suburb of 21,000 people.
One of the ways police departments have armed themselves in recent years is through the Defense Department's excess property program, known as the 1033 Program. It "permits the Secretary of Defense to transfer, without charge, excess U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) personal property (supplies and equipment) to state and local law enforcement agencies (LEAs)," according to the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center.
The 1033 program has transferred more than $4.3 billion in equipment since its inception in 1997. In 2013 alone it gave nearly half a billion dollars worth of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies, according to the program's website.
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If you cannot see what is coming in this country you are blind. The police see what is coming because law enforcement has to deal with people who have no respect for human life. I do not like that the police are now armed to the teeth...but in the same respect...I like the fact that someone can stop the riots and backlash that is headed this way.
ReplyDeleteJust learned today that Wicomico got a tank. I just don't think they need that kind of heavy equipment. Remember a few years ago when Princess Anne got a helicopter but no one was ever trained to fly it. Cops are not military and they don't have the proper chain of command to operate this equipment.
ReplyDeleteUse some of this money for cameras on every car and every cop. Lets keep them clean. It would straighten 90% of this crap out. Hire an outside agency to collect the cameras at the end of the day. Accountability must start somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI received a whole education in one day here. Do you honestly think that any of this is going to matter once the war in this country begins? We are being torn apart from the inside out. There is no reason for terrorist to step foot into this country. We are already doomed and all they have to do is pick up the pieces once the dust settles.
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