SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
President Trump will sign an executive order to allow local police departments to receive or purchase military surplus equipment:
Police departments will now have access to military surplus equipment typically used in warfare, including grenade launchers, armored vehicles and bayonets, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Monday, describing it as "lifesaving gear."
The move rescinds limits on the Pentagon handouts that were put in place by President Barack Obama in 2015 amid a national debate over policing touched off by a spate of high-profile deaths of black men at the hands of the police, including the shooting death in 2014 of 18-year-old Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Mo., by a white officer. Some local residents viewed police use of military equipment during the ensuing protests as an unnecessary show of force and intimidation.
In a speech to the Fraternal Order of Police in Nashville, Mr. Sessions said Mr. Obama had made it harder for the police to protect themselves and their neighborhoods. "Those restrictions went too far," Mr. Sessions said. "We will not put superficial concerns above public safety."
Mr. Sessions said that President Trump would sign an executive order on Monday fully restoring the military program, called 1033, and that the president was doing "all he can to restore law and order and support our police across the country." [...] The program was started in the 1990s as a way for the military to transfer surplus equipment to federal, state and local police agencies fighting the drug war. More than $5 billion in surplus gear has been funneled to law enforcement agencies.
Organized gangs get to play soldier.
Also at The Hill and USA Today.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday August 29 2017, @08:10PM (3 children)
I didn't even remember that they removed that. I thought that was still ongoing, the militarization of the police force. Vehicles, that could be ok I guess. Even tho a scarey looking military type vehicle isn't exactly inviting for the average citizen to come up and talk or ask questions from the police. That said US police might not like or want that. Grenade launchers? For tear gas (and similar) then one would assume or are we talking normal grenades here? That shouldn't really have much usage for the normal police force. Bayonets? Seriously? Is that for when they run out and bullets and have to man up and charge the crooks in a valiant last stand? Or is it so that the assault rifles they just bought don't feel naked? What is next some artillery pieces or a couple of AT4:s? Cause you just never know ...
/eyeroll . Ofcause the Sheriff needs a Black Hawk (or seven) to catch the rednecks out in the boonies.
OK so I can see a lot of this used for riot situations and SWAT-teams (and similar whatever they are called). But for normal police work these things all seem very weird.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 29 2017, @09:17PM
If you give them V1agra they won't need the bayonets.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday August 29 2017, @09:38PM
According to a documentary I saw, you occasionally find that rednecks hiding in the frozen boonies are better dealt with using AT-AT.
(Score: 2) by Scrutinizer on Wednesday August 30 2017, @06:43AM
It is and was; it is just that surplus military equipment is now available again to further that goal. I want to emphasize that military equipment is nothing more than tools, and as such, they are a product of human technological advancement and inherently possess neither good nor evil. The human wielder of a tool provides the morality through the choices made in how the tool is used. If you see yourself as anti-tool, and therefore anti-technology, you may find yourself in uncomfortable company [wikipedia.org] (even if said company did indeed have some valid concerns [wikipedia.org]).
The critical flaw in modern practice of militarizing the police is that it tilts the balance of power away from We the People and towards increasingly-unaccountable governments. It isn't unheard of within the USA for normal citizens to decide that taking up arms is necessary to restore [jpfo.org] justice [theguardian.com], and ultimately do just that [oathkeepers.org]. Yes, sometimes the restoration of justice requires the use of dynamite! Military surplus equipment is best sold direct to the people of the USA; there are even active government programs to do just that. [wikipedia.org]
What do you consider "normal police work"? Many people wrongly think it involves catching drug users and dealers, when drugs are outlawed arbitrarily [npr.org] and/or without legal authority [wikipedia.org]. In short, if you support the idea of police arresting people who possess outlawed drugs, then you support the ideology that enables cops to throw explosive devices into a toddler's face [huffingtonpost.com]. The same is true for attacking, kidnapping, and/or killing other "outlaws" who have done no harm to another human, such as those operating a vehicle without official license plates [theroot.com], manufacturing personal firearms [proliberty.com], and otherwise living as a free person in a peaceable manner.