Pentagon orders Ferguson to return Humvees amid concerns about police militarization

[unhappycamper]

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/08/pentagon-orders-ferguson-to-return-humvees-amid-concerns-about-police-militarization/



Military vehicles, received by St Louis suburb under contested program to distribute surplus gear, were seen during crackdowns on last year’s protests

Pentagon orders Ferguson to return Humvees amid concerns about police militarization
The Guardian
11 Aug 2015 at 08:30 ET

The city of Ferguson, Missouri, is being forced by the Obama administration to return two military vehicles that it obtained from the Pentagon, amid widespread concern and criticism over the deployment on American streets of equipment intended for war zones.

The US Department of Defense will reclaim a pair of Humvees that were given to the beleaguered St Louis suburb under a controversial program to distribute surplus weapons, vehicles and other gear, according to several government officials involved in the process.

“They have simply informed us they will be taking them back,” Jeff Small, a spokesman for Ferguson, told the Guardian in an email.

Several Humvees from regional police forces were among the military vehicles seen on the streets of Ferguson last summer as officers cracked down on protests over the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, by a white Ferguson officer.