When are we going to have a "War on Stupidity" ... ?
[ - pg 16 - ]
“The detection and countering
of the production, trafficking,
and use of illegal drugs is a
high-priority national security
mission of the Department
of Defense.”
-- Then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney, 1989 [17]
[...]
The militarization of American policing has occurred as a direct result of federal programs that use equipment transfers and funding to encourage aggressive enforcement of the War on Drugs by state and local police agencies. One such program is the 1033 Program, launched in the 1990s during the heyday of the War on Drugs, which authorizes the U.S. Department of Defense to transfer military equipment to local law enforcement agencies. [12] This program, originally enacted as part of the 1989 National Defense Authorization Act, initially authorized the transfer of equipment that was “suitable for use by such agencies in counterdrug activities.”[13] In 1996, Congress made the program permanent and expanded the program’s scope to require that preference be given to transfers made for the purpose of “counterdrug and counterterrorism activities.”[14]
There are few limitations or requirements imposed on agencies that participate in the 1033 Program. [15] In addition, equipment transferred under the 1033 Program is free to receiving agencies, though they are required to pay for transport and maintenance. The federal government requires agencies that receive 1033 equipment to use it within one year of receipt,[16] so there can be no doubt that participation in this program creates an incentive for law enforcement agencies to use military equipment.
[...]
--
WAR COMES HOME: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing -- 2014 ACLU Foundation
It's enough to make a thinking person ask:
"Who do they think is 'the Enemy' again?"
11 Shocking Facts About America's Militarized Police Forces
The militarization of police is harming civil liberties, impacting children, and transforming neighborhoods into war zones.
by Alex Kane, AlterNet, alternet.org -- June 27, 2014
[...]
In June, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) brought more attention to police militarization when it issued a comprehensive, nearly 100-page (appendix and endnotes included) report titled, “War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing.” Based on public records requests to more than 260 law enforcement agencies in 26 states, the ACLU concluded that “American policing has become excessively militarized through the use of weapons and tactics designed for the battlefield” and that this militarization “unfairly impacts people of color and undermines individual liberties, and it has been allowed to happen in the absence of any meaningful public discussion.”
The information contained in the ACLU report, and in other investigations into the phenomenon, is sobering. From the killing of innocent people to the lack of debate on the issue, police militarization has turned into a key issue for Americans. It is harming civil liberties, ramping up the “war on drugs,” impacting the most marginalized members of society and transforming neighborhoods into war zones. Here are 11 important--and horrifying--things you should know about the militarization of police.
1. It harms, and sometimes kills, innocent people. [...]
2. Children are impacted. [...]
4. The “war on terror” is fueling militarization. [...]
[...]
10. There’s been little debate and oversight. [...]
11. Communities of color bear the brunt. [...]
...
"When war comes to America" -- there's some worrisome food for thought ... Ammo for the unthinkable.
Some might think it is already here.
This post started with the simple question:
"Could there be a linkage between training with excessive armaments,
and the battle-field mindset of Cops who increasingly rely on excessive force?"
How Did America's Police Get So Militarized?
Fancy weapons, 9/11 and fear of crime turned local forces into small armies.
by Matthew Harwood, motherjones.com -- Aug. 14, 2014
[...]
Everyday Militarization
Don't think, however, that the military mentality and equipment associated with SWAT operations are confined to those elite units. Increasingly, they're permeating all forms of policing.
As Karl Bickel, a senior policy analyst with the Justice Department's Community Policing Services office, observes, police across America are being trained in a way that emphasizes force and aggression. He notes that recruit training favors a stress-based regimen that's modeled on military boot camp rather than on the more relaxed academic setting a minority of police departments still employ. The result, he suggests, is young officers who believe policing is about kicking ass rather than working with the community to make neighborhoods safer. [...]
Take the 1033 program. The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) may be an obscure agency within the Department of Defense, but through the 1033 program, which it oversees, it's one of the core enablers of American policing's excessive militarization. Beginning in 1990, Congress authorized the Pentagon to transfer its surplus property free of charge to federal, state, and local police departments to wage the war on drugs. In 1997, Congress expanded the purpose of the program to include counterterrorism in section 1033 of the defense authorization bill. In one single page of a 450-page law, Congress helped sow the seeds of today's warrior cops.
[...]
Astoundingly, one-third of all war materiel parceled out to state, local, and tribal police agencies is brand new. This raises further disconcerting questions: Is the Pentagon simply wasteful when it purchases military weapons and equipment with taxpayer dollars? Or could this be another downstream, subsidized market for defense contractors? Whatever the answer, the Pentagon is actively distributing weaponry and equipment made for US counterinsurgency campaigns abroad to police who patrol American streets and this is considered sound policy in Washington. The message seems striking enough: what might be necessary for Kabul might also be necessary for DeKalb County.
[...]
Next dumb question:
"When a Police Force 'declares war' on its local citizens, or specific local neighborhoods
-- Who is responsible for ending that war? ... and what would constitute 'Victory'?"
The Best Reporting on Federal Push to Militarize Local Police
A few facts you might have missed about the flow of military equipment and tactics to local law enforcement.
by Hanqing Chen, ProPublica, propublica.org -- Aug. 19, 2014
[...]
The Defense Department has provided tens of thousands of pieces of military equipment to local police departments for free. As a “long season of war” draws to a close for the U.S., surplus weapons meant for foreign battlefields are finding their way into police departments across the country, the New York Times reports. The free supplies provided to local law enforcement include machine guns, magazines, night vision equipment, aircraft and armored vehicles. Local news outlets have investigated the flow of military-grade weapons and equipment into police departments in Utah, Indiana, Georgia and Tennessee.
The DOD program, known as 1033, has provided $4.3 billion in free military equipment to local police. The 1033 program allows the Pentagon to transfer weapons to local police departments on permanent loan for free. The program first started in the 1990s as part of an effort to arm police during the drug crisis.
[...]
Police conduct up to 80,000 SWAT raids a year in the U.S., up from 3,000 a year in the early ‘80s. That’s according to criminologist and researcher Peter Kraska. But according to a recent study by the American Civil Liberties Union, almost 80 percent of SWAT team raids are linked to search warrants to investigate potential criminal suspects, not for high-stakes “hostage, barricade, or active shooter scenarios.” The ACLU also noted that SWAT tactics are used disproportionately against people of color.
[...]
Militarization isn’t just changing the tools police officers use, but how they relate to communities they serve. Investigative reporter Radley Balko told Vice that police officers are often isolated from the communities they work in. “I think a much deeper problem is the effect all of this war talk and battle rhetoric has had on policing as a profession,” Balko said in an interview. “In much of the country today, police officers are psychologically isolated from the communities they serve.”
Newsflash for the war-fatigued "isolated cop" --
it's hard for citizens to trust someone, when you think they're going to shoot you -- or otherwise take away your Rights ...
Rights to personal safety; Rights to Due Process; Rights to Life, Liberty, and Happiness; Rights to basic human dignity and respect.
Remember back to those hard lessons you might have learned in grade-school:
"To earn Respect, you first have to give Respect.
There is no other way."
Excessive arms will only earn you, more Fear and Distrust ... the vicious cycle that 'arms race' usually lead to.