Posted on 11/19/2015 7:16:54 PM PST by markomalley
Under orders from President Obama ,military surplus vehicles were seized from Calhoun County, Alabama Sheriff Larry Amerson Wednesday. For over 20 years, under the federal government’s 10-33 program, the Defense Department distributed military surplus equipment and vehicles to local law enforcement.
However, following the riots in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland, over local law enforcement controversies, President Obama halted the program through an executive order. All vehicles from the program that were deemed too “militaristic looking” were to be confiscated from local law enforcement all over the country.
“We’ve seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people the feeling like there’s an occupying force — as opposed to a force that’s part of the community that’s protecting them and serving them,” Obama said in May. He added that the equipment “can alienate and intimidate residents and make them feel scared.”
Sheriff Amerson returned 10-33 vehicles, which were first obtained after a mentally ill person shot three Anniston police officers in 2001 and other officers had no protection to remove the injured from the area, a statement from the sheriff’s office said.
The tracked armored vehicles were also used in a 2011 shooting of Anniston police officer Justin Sollohub when law enforcement found the shooter in a wooded area. The vehicle was also used during a search last September, as well as for transportation needs during ice storms, the sheriff’s office said.
Other Sheriff’s office are speaking up as well about the government confiscating their equipment. The Volusia County, Florida Sheriff’s office said on it’s Facebook page:
Without this equipment, people will die in the future. It’s that simple. Lives will be lost unnecessarily. Let’s not take away needed tools from our law enforcement officers who risk their lives every day to protect the public. Let’s not make their jobs any harder or any more dangerous. And let’s not hamstring law enforcement officers in their ability to effectively respond to emergencies, neutralize threats and protect the public and themselves!
Sheriff Michael Bouchard of Oakland County, Michigan, a member of the Major County Sheriffs Association, told The Daily Caller last month that the Obama administration’s new regulations leave many rural sheriffs without vehicles necessary to handle harsh terrain.
“Our belief is that [the administration] thinks they look to militaristic because it has treads, not wheels,” Bouchard said.
“A lot of rural sheriffs that have deserts or cold, deep snow areas. One of the vehicles they use for rescue or for emergency operations are tracked vehicles,” Bouchard said. “It is the only vehicle that can traverse the terrain whether it happens to be in an incredibly deep sand or incredibly deep snow. Well, the president decided that tracked vehicles look to militaristic. So they are not allowed.”
“Today is a sad and frustrating day at the Sheriff’s office. The federal government, the U.S. military, is withdrawing a piece of equipment we found extremely valuable for our purposes and that is a tracked armored vehicle,” Amerson said. “Tracked armored vehicles are defensive in nature. They have no offensive capabilities. This decision by our commander in chief, I don’t agree with it. This is the nation we live in. We are a nation of laws and we follow those laws.”
Amerson says he contacted Alabama Republican Rep. Mike Rogers and received assurance from Rogers that language will be introduced in the next funding bill that would allow local law enforcement to have the vehicles the government is seizing.
Disarming local police forces???
Which he will promptly turn over to #blackliesmatter.
If something sounds really stupid, or something IS really stupid it had to have been from Obama.
Looks like an M-114 track.
A little torn on this one. I mean how many times here on FR have we lamented the militarization of the police? Yet here it is being de-escalated...by the wrong person, for most likely the wrong reasons. Wonder if major blue cities are having this happen to them, or if it’s only in rural red counties.
Who gets the confiscated vehicles?
None of these depts needed ex mil anything to begin with. But barry does not want any resistance. He isn’t doing this to benefit America. He’s doing it because he fears it being used to slow his brownshirts.
Command variant ? Maintenance must be a killer
he thinks he is leveling the battlefield and balancing power. The police may be out numbered 100-1, but he will probably take away all weapons but one pistol and billy club. He is a community organizer and they are the one’s who plan and implement protests and riots - their specialty.
Looey Farakhan.
This is a good thing. The local POPO Baney fife wanna be’s don’t need these para military vehicles.
Nope. But when it is your family, and the police are waiting it out, don't complain.
They will be moved to wherever Tea Party activists congregate.
This is not the president to fix it.
This guy has nobody's civil rights in mind. He's just being a prick.
With the Black Lies Matter movement, the police may need more advanced equipment before it's done.
We've been talking a civil war, thinking it would come from the Right. Well guess what folks, it isn't. We're seeing a student uprising that could threaten our government if we're not careful.
Obola won't call out the national guard. He'd let them take over Washington, D. C. if they wanted. Wait till they figure that one out.
After the events in Paris on 11/13, I will be adding
this to my posts for the next week. I'm certain our
turn is coming again soon. We stand united against
Islamic extremists.
Some music for reflection if the mood strikes you.
Courtesy of: Kartographer
beautiful [02:23]
An honorable mention also goes out to Lassana Bathily , a Muslim immigrant from Mali.
Mr. Bathily sheltered customers at the Jewish Deli and helped police by providing info
on the terrorists, and providing the location of survivors in the deli.
Courtesy of: Tijeras_Slim
I generally have a policy of not waiting for someone else to protect people I care about.
I’m thinking that in a showdown with the Feds, local Sheriff’s will side with their homes and people so Obama wants them unarmed as much as possible.
Yup. It definitely reveals he is headed to the Hitler in a bunker mindset.
It is from the family of M-113 armored personnel carriers, either an converted M-113 or a modified M-578 command track.
Is there a statute of limitations on treason?
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