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~ snip ~ Despite the move, however, Kirby insisted the Defense Department was not "militarizing" police departments and that the program as a whole was "useful" and "served a purpose." "Let’s be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater here," Kirby said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/02/the-police-industrialente_n_4372272.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592 In my book on police militarization, I have a section on the role pop culture has played in blurring the line between cops and soldiers, particularly with the onset of reality(ish) shows like A&E's Dallas SWAT or Spike TV's DEA. Over at the blog Gun Culture 2.0, sociologist David Yamane looks at a bizarre new reality competition on the Outdoor Channel called Elite Tactical Unit: S.W.A.T., which features SWAT teams from across the country competing in a number of SWAT-like competitions for a $100,000 prize. As Yamane describes it, "ETU is basically 'Survivor' set in the world of police...

Bullet Buys: Fifteen members of Congress have written a letter to the Department of Homeland Security demanding to know why the federal agency is buying so many rounds of ammunition. We'd like to know too. Fifteen members of Congress have sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security demanding to know why the federal agency is buying so many rounds of ammunition. We'd like to know too. Freshman California Republican Doug LaMalfa and 14 of his House colleagues, who signed on to his March 5 letter, are asking the Department of Homeland Security to explain why it is buying...

12/21/2009 - CAMP TAJI, Iraq (AFNS) -- Five Air Force vehicle maintainers deployed to Iraq and assigned to Detachment 3 of the 732nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron here are working to keep security forces personnel on the road, but they aren't working on patrol cars. The maintainers work on more than 60 vehicles, the most challenging being the mine resistant ambush protected vehicle on which they have had no prior training. "My Airmen are not sent to technical schools to learn how to work on MRAPs. They're learning how to fix these vehicles while deployed using technical manuals and field...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE GARDEZ, Afghanistan, Feb. 13, 2009 – I took my third trip off of the forward operating base here yesterday, and my third trip in a mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle, known as an MRAP. The provisional reconstruction team’s security force has five of them, with two more expected at the end of this month. A mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle rolls through the streets of Gardez City, Afghanistan, hauling members of the Paktia provincial reconstruction team, Feb. 11, 2009. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. We went to Gardez City with a couple...

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2008 – Commanders in Afghanistan have asked for more of the mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles the military calls “MRAPs,” the Pentagon’s press secretary said today. There are roughly 800 MRAPs in Afghanistan. “It’s safe to say that commanders are interested” in more of the vehicles, Geoff Morrell told reporters. Though the request is unofficial so far, it was relayed by Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser, commander of Combined Task Force 101 at Bagram Airfield to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Navy Adm. Mike Mullen during the chairman’s recent visit to Afghanistan. Part of the request may be...

Richard Lardner wrote an article for the AP (source link WashPo) about a "study" that was done evaluating the problems with getting Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles to the Marines: Study: Lack of MRAPs Cost Marine Lives By RICHARD LARDNERThe Associated PressFriday, February 15, 2008; 10:53 PM WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of U.S. Marines have been killed or injured by roadside bombs in Iraq because Marine Corps bureaucrats refused an urgent request in 2005 from battlefield commanders for blast-resistant vehicles, an internal military study concludes. The study, written by a civilian Marine Corps official and obtained by The Associated Press, accuses...