President Obama issued Executive Order 13688 in January after the 2014 riots in Ferguson, Mo., amid concerns about the “militarization” of the police fueling a heavy-handed response. Items on the prohibited list include armored tracked vehicles, weaponized aircraft and vehicles, .50-caliber firearms and ammo, bayonets, and camouflage. And now the feds are looking to collect.A recall of items on the prohibited list that had been handed out via the 1033 program went into effect on Oct. 1, and law enforcement agencies have until April 1, 2016, to return them, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency told FoxNews.com.
Outrage as military vehicles, equipment taken from officers in wake of Obama order(Adam Shaw Published November 23, 2015 Fox News)
Bump
Yes I remember it.
My complaint at that time was not so much equipment, but tactics, and there are caveats.
Using the APCs for dealing w/mobs is fine and necessary (though I would prefer to see national guard in that case).
However, there aren’t that many mobs. Dealing w/mobs is what everyone’s thinking now, thanks to the commie left.
But the rest of time, and where my problem w/this lies, is when they use it for “normal” busts. Any mention that the “suspect” may have a gun, and out come the tanks.
I put suspect in quotes because that is the true problem w/”militarization.
Police pursue suspects, who are presumed innocent.
The military pursues enemies, who are not only presumed “guilty”, but hostile, i.e., they will refuse to go quietly.
The reason you have more dogs being shot and, in fact, innocent people being shot when the SWAT teams show up at the wrong address is exactly due to this presumption of guilt and hostility.
What makes it worse is when Bush armed each fed agency independently of the FBI, so even NOAA has its own police force. They showed up in full riot gear to raid a store where they were selling a particular type of coral that was “protected”.
My other beef with this is that whatever the police use, the public should be able to use.
Criminals prey on the public, not police generally. So if the police need certain gear to deal with criminals, the the public needs it too to protect themselves.
And as we can see with all the stand-down orders, the cops aren’t going to help you, even if they’re seeing it happen.