Police must use the military equipment or lose it #liberty from the #policestate

Thanks to Alex Barron, self-proclaimed Bard of the American Redoubt (About | Charles Carroll Society who just posted today another informative Police State exposé. Three summary paragraph quotes from a great article :
"The program where the DOD transfers excess military equipment to local police departments is called the 1033 program (Missouri Department of Public Safety - Department of Defense Excess Property Program (1033 Program) It was initially put in place for the War on American Drug Users. This 1033 program was part of the 1990 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and specifically said the Pentagon could transfer military equipment to local law enforcement if it was “suitable for use in counter-drug activities.” After 9/11 when the government convinced the American people that there were little brown terrorist hiding in grandma’s skirt this was expanded to equipment that was appropriate for the War on Terrorists."

"...Congress passes a law (this is the stupid part) to “give” this equipment to your local law enforcement. The defense contractors lose no money since the military has already paid for it. Sure Idaho has four Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAPS) for nearly no cost, but … who pays for the operations and maintenance of those MRAPS after they are acquired? The local tax payers! You do. This is one of the strongest arguments against letting your local police department play tacticool Mall Ninja with military equipment on official time. Local taxes need to pay for the operations and maintenance of that equipment. And where does that money (this is the greed part) from your local tax base flow? Back to the defense contractors. The defense contractors want that equipment rolling, being used and requiring regular proper maintenance (O&M dollars). Thus their lobbyist make sure a part of the law that says you have to keep the equipment “properly maintained” i.e. you have to use it."

"Everyone wins! Congress looks like they are hard on crime by convincing the American public that there are dark little dangerous criminals everywhere and even more scary there are little brown terrorists in your Mom’s pants, we need to check. The Pentagon gets to unload a bunch of equipment that it no longer wants, the local police departments who are military wannabes get to dress tacticool and act like Mall Ninjas (Mall ninja - RationalWiki and the Defense Contractors see improvement in their bottom line even with the wars spinning down. Everyone wins, except for the U.S. citizen and the Constitution. These are real people they are killing, and real families they are destroying. Remember, blow back people, it does not only apply to overseas actions."

Fair Use Source: Police must use the military equipment or loose it [HASHTAG]#liberty[/HASHTAG] | Charles Carroll Society

Here are a few quotes from another great article on the topic from the wonderful conservative libertarian Backwoods Home Magazine: "If we're going to talk about the militarization of our police forces, there are two books about it, both by a guy named Radley Balko: Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America and Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces.

"Many in law enforcement claim they need military grade weapons saying 'It's a war zone out there.' But facts belie their argument. Like I say, the rate of violent crime is dropping. It's about half of what it was 20 years ago — and this includes murder, robbery, forcible rape, and other violent crimes. In fact, the violent crime rate is the lowest it's been in 40 years."

"Well, how about this: For decades, people have brought suits against police departments because the police didn't protect them, in some cases even after having promised to protect them. But the citizens have almost never won those suits and the few victories they achieved have always been overturned on appeal in favor of the police. Finally, in 2005, in the case of Castle Rock v. Gonzales, the Supreme Court ruled, once and for all, that law enforcement in the United States is not obligated to protect or serve you."

"Fifty years ago, there were no Special Weapons and Tactics teams, the so-called SWAT teams. Today, there are thousands of them. This is despite the fact that violent crime is at its lowest point in four decades.

"There was a time, back in the '70s, when there were probably 150 SWAT team raids a year, nationwide. Today, there are about 150 a day, 365 days a year. And the number of raids is increasing every year. For those who like big numbers, we've seen more than a 36,000 percent increase in 40 years."

"There wouldn't be if that's what SWAT teams had stayed limited to. But like the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) — which allows seizure of private property and which we were told was only going to be used against drug kingpins, but now is used to seize private property, even in the case of petty crimes — the original intent of SWAT teams has now been blurred and, more and more, they're used to perform everyday police work. They're used to serve search warrants that, just a few decades ago, were done by ... well, the kinds of cops you have here in Curry County, Oregon.

"Cops used to knock on your door, announce who they were, present the warrant, then conduct a search or make an arrest. Nowadays, SWAT teams are executing what are known as 'no-knock' warrants. That is, they don't knock and announce themselves, and the first time you know they're there is when they're busting down your door or blowing it off its hinges with explosive charges and, often, it's after they've thrown concussion and flash grenades through your windows to disorient you. And they charge in wearing flak jackets and masks and carrying M16 rifles. All too often this happens just before dawn when you're asleep and you're going to be disoriented anyway."

Fair Use Source: The Coming American Dictatorship Part XII, The militarization of America's police forces By John Silveira, Backwoods Home Magazine, Issue • March/April, 2014 The militarization of America's police forces by John Silveira

Police must use the military equipment or loose it [HASHTAG]#liberty[/HASHTAG] | Charles Carroll Society

Here is the URL for that Backwoods Home article: The militarization of America's police forces by John Silveira

See also:
Calguns.net Ferguson master thread -- Missouri protests call attention to police militarization: Calguns.net

On Militarization: Friday Miscellany News Brief, Is the United States Government Preparing for War Against The American People?

The Survival Podcast Episode 1237 - The Rising American Police State: Michael Evans on the Rising American Police State | The Survival Podcast and Police state - The TSP Survival Wiki

Letters Re: Militarized Police - SurvivalBlog.com
Letters Re: Militarization of LEOs - SurvivalBlog.com
Two Letters: The Militarization of LEOs - SurvivalBlog.com

 

Interesting situation, and I have been wondering who to contact and lay a dime on. One of my local area counties in the not too distant past received an MRAP. Now they must have decided maintenance and upkeep was just too much for the county budget. So .... recently I heard something on the news about them deciding to get rid of it by auctioning it off with a minimum bid of $2000. Something smells strongly of fish and corruption. If memory serves, this federal government property is actually only on loan to the county and should they no longer want it they are supposed to turn it back in to federal government surplus. Am I wrong?

 

Hey i want to bid on that! i bet i could turn an mrap into one heck of an off roading RV!

 

Last year there were enough MRAPs given to supply 50 for each state. Some got more/some less. Most mid sized towns already had APCs or better and now these are added. We live near a very small hamlet surrounded mostly by farms but it has a SWAT unit as does most other little towns across the US. In addition the county sheriff has a tactical unit complete with all the toys they like. What they have spawned is a segment of society that can and probably will be able to counter such equipment/tactics. There in lies the problem because of an old axiom--force begets force.

 

Here is an update from the thought-provoking Bard of the American Redoubt's podcast CharlesCarrollSociety.com on:
How police SWAT has become larger and more invasive



"This is during the time that violent crime is dropping significantly. Of course we are becoming the United Prison States during the same time. Mostly covering the War on American Drug Users. Yet during the time that we have less violent crime, less gun ownership by the public, there has been a dramatic, and I mean dramatic increase in the no-knock warrants, the amount of military equipment the police have, and the number of SWAT raids. I mean the FDA and NASA have SWAT teams? Up until last decade the military had no federal program to push military equipment into the police departments at tax payers cost and there was of course no demand from the Pentagon that this equipment be “used.” Also what is just sick is to look at what the government is conducting “SWAT” raids for. Here is a graphic by jason keisling & lauren galik of reason.com that spells it out fairly nicely:

Fair Use Source: How police SWAT has become larger and more invasive [HASHTAG]#liberty[/HASHTAG] | Charles Carroll Society

 

Very good video on the history of, and mission creep of, SWAT teams:


SWAT: Mission Creep | Retro Report