The militarization of America’s police has been a topic of concern for years (most openly since The Boston Marathon bombing in 2013) but reached a crescendo in 2014 amid Ferguson’s riots when the average joe was exposed to MRAPs up close and personal. In October 2014, President Obama began planning to increase funding for military equipment transfers to the police, but then in May 2015, he flip-flopped – proclaiming his goal to de-militarize the police. However, this was another lie. As Forbes reports, despite Obama’s pledge to demilitarize the police new federal data shows that 2014 and 2015 were peak years for shipments of surplus military gear to local police departments across America.
As we detailed previously, there is no doubt that the American police force has been drastically militarized.
And now we find out that despite public outcry and Obama’s populist comments on de-militarization, as Forbes details, the militarization actually accelerated…
This week our organization released the study, OpenTheBooks Snapshot Report – The Militarization of Local Police Departments that quantified the transfer of 1.5 million weapons-related items from the Department of Defense (DoD) to federal, state and local law enforcement since 2006. New federal records show police agencies in Florida, Texas, California, Tennessee, and Arizona led the nation in procuring surplus military-weaponry from the DoD over the last ten years.
The idea of peace officers is long dead. What we have now, like it or not, is a basic occupational force with close ties to the crentral government and the military. Exactly what the founders feared and warned against.
“We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”
“This is Exhibit A of why the homeland is the battlefield.” Recalling Sen. Rand Paul’s filibuster, Graham noted that he took to the Senate floor specifically to object to Rand’s notion that “America is not the battlefield.” Graham said to me, “It’s a battlefield because the terrorists think it is.” Referring to Boston, he observed, “Here is what we’re up against,” and added, “It sure would be nice to have a drone up there [to track the suspect.]” He also slammed the president’s policy of “leading from behind and criminalizing war.”
Said the man who is in large part responsible for allowing terrorist into our country.
http://amerigeddonthemovie.com/