and the stuff they already handed out???
Posted on 05/18/2015 7:40:48 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
I suppose this was entirely predictable given the stance of the Obama administration in most matters concerning relations between police departments and the communities they serve and protect. The White House is cancelling portions of a program where surplus military equipment was made available at no cost to local police departments for use in fighting crime in violent neighborhoods. Other resources will remain available but require some sort of assurances from the cops that they won’t “misuse” them.
The Obama administration announced Monday it will ban federal transfers of certain types of military-style gear from local police departments, as the president seeks to respond to a spate of incidents that has frayed trust in communities across the country.
The banned items include tracked armored vehicles, bayonets and grenade launchers, according to a task force report released by the White House. Other equipment, including tactical vehicles, explosives and riot equipment, will be transferred only if local police provide additional certification and assurances that the gear will be used responsibly, according to the report.
The announcement came as Obama prepared to travel to Camden, N.J., to highlight his administration’s strategy to help reform local police departments, including efforts to increase the numbers of officers on patrol and the use of body cameras.
Before we even get to the issue of the equipment transfer ban, I should point out that the Secret Service must be going ballistic this week. Taking the President anywhere is a stressful operation to begin with, but bringing him to Camden must be a logistical nightmare. The place is a war zone. Getting the boss in and out safely, not to mention scheduling an outdoor public speaking appearance, will probably have a number of agents leaving with more gray hairs than they had a month ago.
But choosing Camden for the setting of such an announcement is rather ironic. If there’s one police force in the nation that could use some military style gear, it’s probably Camden’s. With that said, not all of the gear being distributed sounds as if it’s equally useful. Banning tracked vehicles seems pointless because whether the vehicle has tracks or wheels, it’s not significantly more dangerous. But tracks are useful on broken ground, concrete steps, etc. can provide an advantage in urban combat at times. Bayonets seem a bit anachronistic in the modern era and I’m not sure who is using them anyway. As for the grenade launchers, even I will admit that they might be a bit over the top even in a massive riot situation, so I’m unsure why they were being issued in the first place.
But the other gear which will essentially require permission slips should be standard issue, at least in large, urban departments. Batons and riot shields shouldn’t be an option… they should be a requirement, along with proper self-defense training in their use. Tactical vehicles, explosives, battering rams and the rest of the items on the list all clearly have their proper time and place and letting them go to waste rather than distributing them to police forces with strained budgets is counterproductive.
The obvious takeaway from all of this, though, is that the White House isn’t implementing some new policy which they think will improve public safety. This is a public relations stunt to show that they are “on the side of the people” against the evil, out of control cops. Unfortunately we still have areas in this country – generally in large urban centers or contested border regions in the southwest – where police work can border on combat zone scenarios. Everyone would prefer it to be otherwise, but if you’re living in the real world you need to bring the best tools available to the job you have in front of you.
If one single police unit couldn't certify that any weapons would be use responsibly, that department should be disbanded.
Saving the stuff for new shipments to Mexico?.
I think largely I’m OK with this. Allow as some of the commenters pointed out, this is mostly for show and won’t stop local PD from getting it if they super pinky promise to be careful.
If he really wanted to propose something useful he would suggest a law requiring body cameras on cops:
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/With-body-cameras-rolling-police-use-less-force-6254667.php
No heavy artillery, no B-52’s, no aircraft carriers, jeez, the feds take all the fun out of it.
These transfers are of great detriment to the American people and should be stopped immediately.
At least a standard-equipped cop is only going to shoot himself, a brother officer, your family dog, or perhaps a criminal (if he's lucky). Give him a tank, a howitzer and a machine gun, and your neighborhood just got ALOT less safe.
I agree that police departments should not be issued these weapons, but cutting them off at their source is only part of the problem. Individual states are remiss in not intervening to stop the paramilitarization of police in their states.
Police training is, and should be, standardized at the police academies of individual states. And while counties, cities and towns pay for equipping their police, states should set guidelines as to what equipment is permitted for police to have and use.
The way things are now, police departments are obtaining military weaponry and technology “just because they can”, even it is is wildly inappropriate for their mission.
and the stuff they already handed out???
I don’t think I’m alone in believing that these under-trained, poorly screened imbeciles with badges and guns are quite lethal enough without the wartime materiel...”
Heavy weaponry would be useful by those sufficiently trained and with self control in case of an actual terrorist attack. But, the largely untrained “imbiciles” use this as a show of force on civilians, deservedly or not.
As we have seen, in the best of circumstances the National Guard takes a day or longer to mobilize and get there when ordered in. What would you suggest?
and the stuff they already handed out???
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I can’t speak for the weaponry but the heavy vehicles are generally useless due to failure to maintain them... I drive past my sheriffs compound and I see known dead MRAP’s and APC’s ... They all want the toys , but they don’t budget maintenance ... I think it’s mostly off road toys for the brass...
A day or so of patience, plus a clear understanding within police departments that citizens have a right to protect themselves and their property.
I’m largely okay with this. Too many “police” departments are looking more and more like military units. That is not their job and it does make me a bit apprehensive to see so many militarized police out there. Boston was the prime example where they had heavily armed “soldiers” removing people from their homes.
i can believe that... but it'd be a good idea to recall all the M16's, M4's and such
WTF?
Can someone please provide a single reason for cops to need bayonets or grenade launchers?
While all of that is true, there are some positive aspects that could be taken from the situation.
A percentage of wheeled and tracked vehicles were built for the military as armored ambulances, to rescue the wounded under fire. The military is trying hard to find the money to keep the latest version of the mine-resistant ones for combat use.
Assuming the feds take back all the vehicles (a futile assumption, especially since the vehicles have been deactivated (trashed) for free the recipients, the least-trashed MRAPs should be refitted as state-of-the-art armored ambulances that states and cities can request. Conversion costs would be split 50-50 between the feds and the end-user, just to show they have "skin in the game". They could be stored at major hospitals, where medics could train with them on a regular basis.
There would probably be plenty of volunteer labor among recently "retired" troops with experience on this equipment. They could also restore a lot of the other trashed vehicles for donation to the real owners of the equipment, the American citisen. :)
They could also restore a lot of the other trashed vehicles for donation to the real owners of the equipment, the American citisen. :)
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That brings up another issue ,,, military Humvees , MRAPS , APC’s ,,, None of them meet NHTSA or EPA specs and are banned from public roads ... we would never be able to get a license plate on one ... how are these agencies getting them on the road? They’re not old enough to be exempted. Who is breaking the law to get these on public roads?
I’d love to have a H1 Hummer for off roading...
The goobermint is starting to auction "select" humvees to the general public. These are the ones so trashed, they can't even give them to other agencies. While they're spending time and money restoring them, the lucky owners can probably scrounge enough civilian parts from the old civilian H1 Hummer to bring things back to commercial specs for that model year.
Some people collect and restore antique military and civilian vehicles. They can run them on the road without plates for a limited number of miles each year. Or they can find an old junker with a title, and weld the part of the firewall with the VIN plate, making it that "original" car. This is done just so the state knows it exists, and gets license fees from it, depending on how it's titled.
Depending on the state, it could also get "vintage", "historic", or other designations. After all, every one of these vehicles were street-legal at some time or other, and can be again, even if more hoops have to be jumped through.
I would suggest that we probably have the situation well enough in hand, what with a citizenry whose arsenals are more than adequate to deal with any insurgency—from within or without.
We merely need a serious-enough common threat, and the will to see it exterminated.
Waiting for the cops (or the National Guard...) is tantamount to a death wish.
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