thatguyoverthere wrote:http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/08 ... -says.html
The Trump administration is preparing to lift an Obama-era policy that restricted surplus military equipment from being used by local law enforcement agencies.
The government program, which allowed local police to use military equipment such as armored vehicles, firearms, ammunition and grenade launchers, had been curtailed when President Obama signed an executive order in 2015 banning it.
I used to see no problem with cops obtaining equipment designed for use in war. I'm a little older and (hopefully) a little wiser, now I DO see a problem with it - at least some of it.
Don't get me wrong; I support the police; I support law & order; the police do need to be able to do their jobs. But (in my opinion) cops don't need grenade launchers and tanks. (See the book: "Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces")
I'm surprised that I find myself actually agreeing with the Obama administration in this case.
But I think we need to take a very hard look at this policy of giving
real "weapons of war" to police departments for use against American citizens.
What do you think?
That was a great book. I understand and can see where police could have potential uses for this kind of equipment; so I'm not entirely against them having it. But..... when you have a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail, and so now, policing needs a thorough overhaul. I would feel a WHOLE lot better about local gov't having that kind of stuff, if
I was also allowed to have it (better yet, have it donated to me by gov't).
1. Using SWAT to serve common warrants is asking for trouble.
2. Using SWAT to kick down doors to serve warrants for non-violent possession of small amounts of drugs is asking for trouble.
3. If you HAVE to go arrest someone, just wait for him to come outside! It's not that hard to figure out.
4. STOP with the asset forfeiture nonsense!
5. RESTORE accountability. STOP shielding shoddy work products and lazy police from consequences. If a cop shoots and kills an innocent homeowner because police served a no-knock warrant at the wrong address, and the homeowner protected his property, that cop should go down for murder.....JUST LIKE ANY OTHER CITIZEN would have to face. If police go to prison for killing innocent civilians,
maybe they'll start exercising due diligence before kicking down doors.
Yes, some of these things requirements might make a cop's job harder - but they will ALSO restore trust and repair the damage done by shoddy police work. And I freely concede that not every dept that receives this kind of stuff from the feds is going to abuse it. Although I've never seen it, my guess is that my local PD has an APC of some kind or other. But local police here don't relate to the population in an aggressive manner, so it's a non-issue.
Effective policing requires the cooperation and good will of the community in which they police. In fact, I just found this image of Grapevine's armored vehicle.....first time I've ever seen it. Why? Because the GPD doesn't make unwanted headlines for itself by acting like jack wagons:
