from the a-bazooka-a-day-keeps-the-bad-guys-away dept.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reports via Common Dreams
Republican Governor Chris Christie has signed legislation making New Jersey the first state to require local, democratic approval before law enforcement agencies can receive surplus military equipment from the Department of Defense. The legislation--signed during Sunshine Week, a national celebration of government transparency and accountability that runs March 15-21--is a major victory for government transparency, democratic accountability, and the effort to demilitarize local police forces.
In recent decades, New Jersey law enforcement agencies have acquired nearly $33 million worth of military equipment, including armored vehicles, grenade launchers, and assault rifles. Under the new law, police departments must not only notify local governments of their intention to obtain used military gear, but also receive their explicit approval before doing so.
[...]New Jersey [...] is not alone among states grappling with the impact of police militarization.
For years, police departments in Massachusetts too have acquired surplus military equipment under the military's 1033 program, often in the dark and absent public input.
Representative Mary Keefe (D-Worcester) is leading the way by introducing legislation that will provide communities with a clear opportunity to weigh in on and shape any further militarization of their police departments: "An Act relative to military grade controlled property" (H.2144). State senator Michael Barrett (D-Lexington) introduced a Senate companion, SD1409.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 23 2015, @06:22AM
Citizens taking control of their police forces. That's right, THEIR police forces. Citizens and taxpayers pay those cops their wages, the policies and procedures of the police force is subject to citizen review.
Next step, get rid of the "Internal Affairs" that reviews police conduct, and replace it with a "Community Affairs" division. Pretty much any citizen in good standing is eligible to serve in the division. Some degree of education might be reasonably required, but not necessarily any kind of a law degree.
Yes, citizens CAN take control of government, if they work at it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @06:33AM
If they work at it, who is going to work for wages from which the taxes are paid?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 23 2015, @07:09AM
Dude - government has a product to sell, just like a beauty parlor. If the product sucks, WTF you worried about paying for it? Just don't BUY! Drive across town to another beauty parlor, or build your own, or just stop using beauty parlors. You know - do your own hair, or maybe bully the husband or wife into doing your hair, or just let your hair go wild. I've never gone to a beauty parlor in my life, and it doesn't bother me one bit that beauty parlors might be going bankrupt as a result.
Don't like the government? Change it.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Monday March 23 2015, @07:11AM
You have been brainwashed by market capitalism to see every human and social interaction as a transaction for value in money.
It's not true.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 23 2015, @08:24AM
You err when you assume that I am brainwashed. I put my argument in terms that I expected most readers to understand.
Let me draw an analogy. Since the police are moving toward militarization, a military analogy is quite fitting.
We have an infantry officer, leading a company of infantry. He has been detailed to secure an area Fokistan. It's a small area, well within the capabilities of an infantry company to secure. This young lieutenant is only responsible for a couple square miles, and he has about 80 men at his disposal. There are only a couple dozen indigenous personnel in the area, and the enemy is not moving ANYTHING even close to his area.
Within hours, our young "hero" is calling in air strikes and artillery strikes, begging for help. Totally baffled, the brigade commander gets in a jeep and drives out there to see what the hell is going on. He finds six pre-teen boys running through the fields, playing soldier, and terrifying the young lieutenant.
The lieutenant is relieved for in-fucking-competence.
Now THAT is what I want to see happen to our police forces. The parallel is spot on the money. You're right, there are things that are much more important than money. Incompetence is one of them. Fire the bastards, and send them on their way. Police forces DO NOT NEED military equipment to maintain order in a civilian environment.
One riot, one ranger. Ever heard that one? That ranger didn't drag along a howitzer, or even a mortar. No heavy machine gun. No APC. Just his tired ass, astride a horse, with a six-shooter strapped to his side, and a rifle in the scabbard.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @02:38PM
You did not address the claim that "you see every human and social interaction as a transaction for value in money". *THAT* is what you need to answer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @05:52PM
He can't address it precisely because he's been brainwashed. The question doesn't even mean anything to him.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday March 23 2015, @06:58PM
That is, actually, a question which is unaddressable. It does not define how it could be refuted.
Are you going to claim that every computer transaction is not just a bunch of bit flipping? From one valid perspective that's all that's happening. From another you're depositing money in your bank account. Both can be valid descriptions.
Additionally, if you are quantifying differing values, money is the normal common currency for comparison. There are valid arguments about how the value is assigned, but money is the only enumerated value, and enumeration facilitates valid comparison. OTOH, _cost_ is NOT a valid way of assigning value, even though it is commonly used. And if you use an invalid assignment function you can only expect an invalid answer. Which is why value comparisons are rationally suspect.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by tathra on Monday March 23 2015, @04:12PM
no, government does not have a product to sell. "government" ("management") is something that arose out of necessity, and something that will always arise out of necessity when large enough people get together. when enough people gather together for an indefinite period of time, the location on which they gather, if nothing else, must be managed, especially in modern times since we have roads, power grids, sewer systems, etc, that are basically required, and "government" is the group that everyone trusts to make decisions for the group as a whole regarding 'management' of the group, its collective land, and infrastructure (otherwise you have selfish pricks doing anything they want, which can lead to some of those selfish pricks forcing everyone to live under a different type of government - a dictatorship). unlike your management at work, government can usually be chosen by the group and functions best when not acting selfishly or for profit.
i've noticed a lot of people tend to see the word "government" and immediately think "US federal government" as the only possible example. just to clarify, i mean the most simplest, common, basic definition when i say "government" and certainly not "US federal government"; i mean it just as "person/group who manages a large group of people and the area where they live and handles the affairs of the group as a whole (like for dealing with other 'governments', building/managing infrastructure, etc)", ie "government".
but, yes, like you said, if you've lost control of your government or find the group is way out of line with your preferences, ideally you can just move.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @07:34AM
You and I often hold opposite views on a lot of things, but on this I think we could be part of a Left–Right Alliance. [google.com]
The city of Los Angeles has something that is supposed to be a civilian review board [wikipedia.org]
but its effectiveness is questionable. [columbia.edu]
.
The scandal-plagued Los Angeles Sheriff's Department is getting one too, apparently another milquetoast thing.
To effect change, these things need to have teeth.
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @08:06AM
And what better teeth than some military surplus, eh? Of course, in the hands of the commission. See? Everybody happy, including the army suppliers (which can sell new surpluses).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @08:54AM
Yes, citizens CAN take control of government, if they work at it.
Careful, a single data point neither proves a trend, nor is it suitable to generalize from it. You cannot extrapolate that "standing in front of a truck is safe" just because you stood before a parked one once.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Monday March 23 2015, @06:14PM
Nope. This stuff will just go through a middle man, so it doesn't directly come from the Dept. of Defense. Probably also change the names of them to indicate they aren't surplus military equipement. "Used Firefighting Equipment" sounds good to me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @09:45PM
You do realize that this country was founded by tax evaders, murderers, terrorist, traitors ,and treasonous people. That would make any of the founding fathers ineligible to server in this division? I think it might be time we do away with such labels as ineligible because of a certain crime, and consider all citizens eligible. Because the current monarchy has declared them guilty of crimes a or b should be irrelevant, unless you trust every judge, every laywer and ever other government agency that has the ability to establish "ANY" behavior as a crime. ( prohibition, pot, etc...)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2015, @01:48AM
Honest question. Do you really believe that?
Seems to me we are so far past the point where ordinary citizens can take control of government in the US (through ballot. activism or even by force of revolution; US police departments took possession of 10s of thousands of bayonets for crowd control?!). We will either be crushed by the laws passed by the bought and paid for politicians in the pocket's of the rich parasite class, or crushed by the violence of the rich parasite class's faithful servants in the police and military. And, with persistent and ubiquitous surveillance, they will know exactly who to round up first, and where to find them (I added this line when thinking that I was submitting this post without going through an anonymizing proxy-- I wonder if this triggered any of their deep packet inspection triggers-- yeah, the fact that this isn't a pure tin foil hat conjecture is yet another indication of how fucked we are.
IMO this country, and anyone unable to escape soon, is fucked.
(Score: 4, Informative) by mendax on Monday March 23 2015, @09:14AM
The People's Republic of Davis, the university town sometimes known as Berkeley on the Bayou, or rather the city's police department recently obtained a military vehicle. I suppose they thought it could be used to put down [huffingtonpost.com] the UC Davis students again since pepper spray is no longer acceptable. The Davis City Council told the police to get rid of it [news10.net] and it ended up 10 miles up the road in Woodland [sacbee.com] where I suppose the police there are going to use it to oppress the local paisanos and wild turkeys. Maybe they can use this year for as part of the county's annual roundup of sex offenders [yolocounty.org]. I wonder if they use branding irons.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @09:48AM
annual roundup of sex offenders.
I don't seem to recall the part of the fourth amendment that says that you lose your privacy forever if you're a sex offender, and they don't need warrants or anything. But it must be there somewhere, and even if it wasn't, it's For the Children, so it's okay!
(Score: 1) by deathlyslow on Monday March 23 2015, @01:17PM
It's probably part of the sentencing. Most places require regular check ins for the folks on parole/probation. Once they have met the sentencing requirements they are free from the checks. It's not just sex offenders either.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @10:51AM
Yeah, we have discussed that one.
2 California Police Departments Shedding Armored Vehicles After Ferguson Debacle [soylentnews.org]
-- gewg_
(Score: 4, Funny) by GungnirSniper on Monday March 23 2015, @02:52PM
What did you expect from a state that has a Yolo county?
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by mendax on Monday March 23 2015, @10:01PM
Well, I have to admit that Yolo County is a strange place. It has a people's republic that is home to one of the world's great universities, while the county seat is home to the county's fascists. Fortunately, its congressmen are Democrats. At least there's some hope.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @09:48AM
assault gear they already have?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @09:52AM
can't you just give the cops tanks and full auto grenade launchers and be done with it?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0158591/ [imdb.com]
(Score: 2) by Ryuugami on Monday March 23 2015, @10:16AM
Heh, for a second I wondered what that cover has to do with either tanks or the police, but then I saw that it was a Masamune Shirow manga. That explains a lot :)
If a shit storm's on the horizon, it's good to know far enough ahead you can at least bring along an umbrella. - D.Weber
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @01:50PM
The legislation--signed during Sunshine Week, a national celebration of government transparency and accountability that runs March 15-21--
Government transparency and accountability runs for only one week a year. The other 51 weeks explain everything else.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @03:46PM
Governor Chris Christie has signed legislation making New Jersey the first state to require local, Democratic approval before law enforcement agencies can receive surplus military equipment from the Department of Defense.
WTF is wrong with those people? They're out of control! With their nanny state restrictions on gun ownership (just because I have convictions for rape and am diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to buy and keep MP5s and RPGs!) and insistence that our hard-earned tax dollars aren't spent on food for a bunch of whiny little brown people. Look at 'em, they're in diapers! They must be at least 14 months old. Disgusting!
Now they want to keep our trusted men in blue from their god-given right to drive APCs and fire stinger missiles at speeders? It's un-American, I tell you. These lib'rul freaks are going to destroy this country!
Do us all a favor -- find a Democrat and shoot him squarely in the head!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @03:58PM
God bless Matt Groening [youtube.com]!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @04:19PM
I know the parent is an example of Poe's Law, but its sad that some people really do think that way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @06:34PM
I know the parent is an example of Poe's Law, but its sad that some people really do think that way.
I tried to go so far over the top that my intent was clear, even to the point of clipping the quote from TFS.
That you couldn't figure it out says a lot about you. Or do you actually know people who think this way?