Posted on 08/27/2017 11:38:28 PM PDT by Olog-hai
The Trump administration is preparing to restore the flow of surplus military equipment to local law enforcement agencies under a program that had been sharply curtailed amid an outcry over police use of armored vehicles and other war-fighting gear to confront protesters.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press indicate President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order undoing an Obama administration directive that restricted police agencies’ access to the gear that includes grenade launchers, bullet-proof vests, riot shields, firearms and ammunition.
Trump’s order would fully restore the program under which “assets that would otherwise be scrapped can be repurposed to help state, local, and tribal law enforcement better protect public safety and reduce crime,” according to the documents. […]
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund said in a statement Sunday night that it is “exceptionally dangerous and irresponsible” for the administration to lift the ban.
“Just a few summers ago, our nation watched as Ferguson raised the specter of increased police militarization. The law enforcement response there and in too many places across the country demonstrated how perilous, especially for Black and Brown communities, a militarized police force can be,” the LDF said. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
The left didn’t seem to have a problem with Obama, McCain and other politicians equipping ISIS and similar Islamic terrorist groups with US military gear.
The real problem comes with the police are Federalized.
As long as they are under local control, I am not necessarily concerned.
I’m thinking of that pic of the PO-lice in some Godforsaken suburb of Boston looking for the Boston Marathon pressure-cooker bomber. Here are the cops, driving down a suburban street in a heavily-armored ‘whatever’ with some semi-pro schmo sitting in a turret behind an automatic weapon of whatever caliber. We cannot let this happen in our neighborhoods.
>>The real problem comes with the police are Federalized.<<
That was Obama’s plan. The civilian police force, Irs, Epa and all the alphabet agencies that have been armed. “Fast and Furious” was scary...here’s some of my tinfoil worries...I think inner city groups like BLM, Antifa, Black Panther’s, or whoever the anarchists may be have been armed with weaponry for when the civil war starts and will be left alone when the civil war starts and it will be open season on anyone who tries to counterstrike using all this cool govt surplus weaponry. The police won’t be standing down. There are groups out there like the Patriots who claim they won’t let this happen to America. I have my doubts.
Trump reversing Obama’s orders?
Who told he that he can do that?
“With the left declaring war on the police, saying they will kill them at every opportunity, they have only themselves to blame for the escalation.”
I have to remind myself of this all the time. I am NOT for the militarization of police.
But they need to.
“I have seen my local sheriff’s dept rappaling out of black helicopters...we are so screwed.”
And...?
We elected a pro-2nd amendment, constitutional sheriff in my county. He has an ongoing training program for all his deputies. He also can field an armed auxiliary deputy detachment for “emergencies,” made of local citizens. That includes combat veterans.
The department also owns a military landing craft to aid residents living on an island in the county should an emergency arise.
The sheriff has run two police chiefs out the county who were abusing their police powers. He’s also sent to state prison at least a dozen rat bureaucrats for embezzlement and other crimes.
If you want to control city police, you need an elected constitutional sheriff. If you don’t have a constitutional sheriff, I strongly suggest that you and your buddies get off your fat butts and elect one.
On the other hand, some equipment has both a military and a law enforcement use. Grenade launchers for example; some types of armored vehicles; many forms of personal protective gear.
And the separation of enforcing the law and keeping normal civic order, vs. suppressing riot and civil insurrection, will require that the military receive special training and equipment: some less lethal weapons and ammunitions; special urban warfare/riot control vehicles; personal protection gear (shields, body armor, etc.); street warfare tactics and fighting techniques, including a lot more hand-to-hand combat training both armed and unarmed. And the military personnel will have to learn some law enforcement theory and practice as well: how to recognize when a civil crime is being committed; how to record and preserve evidence; how to make an arrest; how to cooperate with and support local law enforcement, so they, the Guardsmen, don't have to become cops, but can leave that to LEO.
It won't be easy, but it would be better than policemen becoming soldiers.
Considering that it is the Alt-Left who will be on the receiving end of most of this hardware, I have no issue with the plan.
This is a bad idea. The police are not supposed to be an occupying army.
What makes you believe this?
...fair question, maybe it’s more hope on my part. I could see the Leftist mayors using that crap to ‘break up’ otherwise peaceful protests by our side.
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