Lawmaker To Introduce Bill To Curb Increasing Militarization Of Police Agencies

Lawmaker To Introduce Bill To Curb Increasing Militarization Of Police Agencies

Things are starting to come to a head and the militarization of the police force that ATS loves to complain about is going mainstream. Looks like more than just the fringe conspiracy theorists care about this issue now and frankly its about damn time!

WASHINGTON (AP) — Images of police outfitted in paramilitary gear clashing with protesters in suburban St. Louis are giving new impetus to efforts to rein in a Pentagon program that provides free machine guns and other surplus military equipment to local law enforcement agencies.

Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., says he plans to introduce legislation when Congress returns in September to curb what he describes as an increasing militarization of police agencies across the country. Police responding to protesters angry about the weekend shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, wore riot gear and deployed tear gas, dogs and armored vehicles.

I understand that what happened in Ferguson is a tragedy, but maybe we can have some positives come out of it. The police are getting out of hand and more and more people are starting to realize and get pissed off about it.

“Our Main Streets should be a place for business, families and relaxation, not tanks and M16s,” Johnson said Thursday. “Militarizing America’s Main Streets won’t make us any safer, just more fearful and more reticent.”

Couldn't have said it better myself. If Johnson sponsors this bill, I urge ATS to support him in this endeavor. Help disarm the police!

A spokesman for the Defense Logistics Agency, the government’s combat logistics support agency, said theFerguson Police Department has been part of the surplus equipment program. The department received two tactical vehicles — both Humvees — as well as a generator and a trailer and may have received other equipment, DLA spokesman Joe Yoswa said.

Is anyone surprised about this?

Johnson said his bill would limit the kinds of military equipment that can be transferred to local law enforcement agencies and require states to certify they can account for all equipment received.

He said he is disturbed by reports that some weapons and other equipment distributed to police agencies have gone missing. He also expressed concern that the trend toward militarizing has moved beyond local police departments and sheriff’s offices, saying Ohio State University recently acquired a mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle, or MRAP.

Good. Good. Police shouldn't be getting weapons that are illegal for civilians to use.

Johnson, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, cites a 24-year-old program that lets local police agencies acquire for free surplus military equipment ranging from blankets and bayonets to tanks. An Associated Press investigation last year found that a large share of the $4.2 billion in surplus military gear distributed by the program since 1990 went to police and sheriff’s departments in rural areas with few officers and little crime.

The program is called the NDAA, but I'm sure you all knew that already.

Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, defended the program as useful because “it allows for the reuse of military equipment that otherwise would be disposed of.”

Threatening civilians with military equipment is "useful"? WOW.

Related reading:
Ferguson Police Fire Tear Gas At Protesters Hours Before Curfew

Threatening civilians with military equipment is "useful"?

It is when a cop's only training is to empty a magazine of bullets in any situation that causes fear, be it man or dog.

a reply to: roadgravel

Oh come on don't be silly. Don't forget about the mandatory training sessions cops go through called "Planting evidence to shift blame to victim".