Wasn’t long ago people were in a collective uproar about police dept’s acquiring military gear but with today’s reoccurring “right/left” tantrums I say water cannons would be a great purchase. Wonder if they can get that with Amazon Prime – PB/TK
Trump to Lift Limits on Military Gear for Police – By Alan Neuhauser (usnews.com) / Aug 28 2017
President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Monday fully restoring a Pentagon program giving police departments access to high-caliber weapons, armored vehicles and other surplus military gear, according to the Justice Department.
The change had been broadly anticipated: The Defense Department’s 1033 program was curtailed by President Barack Obama in 2015 after photos and videos swept across the country showing police pointing heavy weaponry and wielding other military-style equipment during high-profile protests in Ferguson, Missouri, the year before.
That decision, though cheered by civil rights and police-reform advocates, sparked outrage among police unions and other law enforcement groups, which argued that the restrictions would deprive officers of crucial equipment and put their lives at risk.
Under the new executive order, police departments will gain easier access to equipment that had either been put under greater restriction – such as battering rams, riot helmets and specialized ammunition – or that had been prohibited outright,
Attorney General Jeff Sessions was expected to announce the impending policy shift in Nashville, Tennessee, during a speech to a gathering of the Fraternal Order of Police, the law enforcement union that has been a vocal proponent of Trump and Sessions and their support for law-and-order policing.
The restrictions enacted by Obama’s executive order “went too far,” the attorney general was slated to say, according to prepared remarks. “The executive order the president will sign today will ensure that you can get the lifesaving gear that you need to do your job and send a strong message that we will not allow criminal activity, violence and lawlessness to become the new normal. And we will save taxpayer money in the meantime.”
The comments echo the sentiments of local police chiefs such as Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, who told a House subcommittee in May that “there is no offensive equipment other than rifles” accessed through the program. His department has been using helicopters and other surplus military gear in its ongoing search-and-rescue operations tied to Hurricane Harvey.
The 1033 program has awarded more than $5.4 billion in equipment to local, state, federal and tribal law enforcement agencies since 1997, the Justice Department says. It transferred nearly half a billion dollars in gear to local law enforcement agencies in 2013 alone, according to The Washington Post.
Sessions, in his remarks, emphasized that the Justice Department “will not put superficial concerns” about how a weapon or armor may look “above public safety.” However, some analyses have concluded that such equipment, though it protects officers, may also inflame interactions that are otherwise peaceful or more easily contained.
A 2015 report summary from the Justice Department’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, for example, concluded that while a tactical response was sometimes necessary in Ferguson, authorities’ “elevated daytime response was not justified and served to escalate rather than de-escalate the overall situation.
Another analysis, published by a pair of academics in The Washington Post in June, found that military equipment “makes police more likely to turn to violence to solve problems.”
Meanwhile, an investigation by the Government Accountability Office revealed little oversight of the 1033 program, as the office obtained $1.2 million in military equipment for a faux law enforcement agency it created.
The Justice Department, however, cited its own evidence to support restoring the full 1033 program. It pointed to a pair of papers published in the American Economic Journal, including one that found military-style equipment is linked to lowering some crime, as well as reduced citizen complaints and assaults on officers. The paper also found tactical items did not lead to an increase in “offender deaths.”
The Justice Department also highlighted the recent terror attacks in Orlando – in which a military-style helmet reportedly saved the life of a responding officer – and San Bernardino, California, where officers used armored vehicles in response.
The policy shift comes as cities have been rocked by violent protests that have tested police resources, from the far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, two weeks ago to clashes apparently sparked by far-left activists in Berkeley, California, this past weekend.
Police in Charlottesville were broadly criticized for their response to the violence, which left a woman dead and dozens injured. The city’s police chief acknowledged that his officers had to transition into protective gear before intervening.
Continue to usnews.com article: https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-08-28/trump-to-rescind-obama-era-restrictions-on-military-gear-for-police
