IN CHARTS: The Militarization of America's Police

[n2doc]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/08/15/florida-alabama-and-texas-are-among-the-most-enthusiastic-recipients-of-surplus-military-gear/

[woo me with science]

1. ...

ACLU launches nationwide police militarization investigation
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/aclu-police-militarization-swat_n_2813334.html

It's almost certain that if the police agencies cooperate, the ACLU will find that the militarization trend has accelerated since Kraska's studies more than a decade ago. All of the policies, incentives and funding mechanisms that were driving the trend then are still in effect now. And most of them have grown in size and scope.

The George W. Bush administration actually began scaling down the Byrne and COPS programs in the early 2000s, part of a general strategy of leaving law enforcement to states and localities. But the Obama administration has since resurrected both programs. The Byrne program got a $2 billion surge in funding as part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, by far the largest budget in the program's 25-year history. Obama also gave the COPS program $1.55 billion that same year, a 250 percent increase over its 2008 budget, and again the largest budget in the program's history. Vice President Joe Biden had championed both programs during his time in the Senate.

The Pentagon's 1033 program has also exploded under Obama. In the program's monthly newsletter (Motto: "From Warfighter to Crimefighter&quot , its director announced in October 2011 that his office had given away a record $500 million in military gear in fiscal year 2011, which he noted, "passes the previous mark by several hundred million dollars." He added, "I believe we can exceed that in FY 12.”

Then there are the Department of Homeland Security's anti-terrorism grants. The Center for Investigative Reporting found in a 2011 investigation that since 2001, DHS has given out more than $34 billion in grants to police departments across the country, many of which have been used to purchase military-grade guns, tanks, armor, and armored personnel carriers. The grants have gone to such unlikely terrorism targets as Fargo, N.D.; Canyon County, Idaho; and Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Link to the final ACLU report on militarization of police in America
https://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/war-comes-home-excessive-militarization-american-police-report

[Fred Sanders]

2. Not to worry, the Pentagon will want all the surplus stuff back as soon as they get rid of the

peacenik Noble Peace Prize winner in the WH messing things up with all the "no more wars" shit.

Sending ammo to Israel without the consent of the commander in chief is just the tip of the divide.

[n2doc]

3. That's not how it works

They will want NEW stuff manufactured for the next war. Preferably "high tech" like the F 35.....

[immoderate]

4. I want me one of those F-35s.

It can do ANYTHING, y'know.

--imm

[TheKentuckian]

5. mmmhmmm...I thought the excuse was a bank robbery almost 20 years ago

and/or the public having access to semi automatic rifles for a century.

BULLSHIT!!!

We are being set up for an occupation of enemy territory and it is the people who are that enemy.