Law enforcementLawmakers reconsider transfer of military gear to local police
Federal officials are considering placing restrictions on the 1990 Department of Defense Excess Property (1033) Program which authorized the Pentagon to give surplus military equipment to local law enforcement units to fight the war on drugs. The program was later explained as also heling in the fight against terrorism. Though violent crime nationwide is at its lowest levels in decades, the transfers of military equipment to police forces have surged.
Federal officials are considering placing restrictions on the 1990 Department of Defense Excess Property (1033) Program which authorized the Pentagon to give surplus military equipment to local law enforcement units to fight the war on drugs. The program was later explained as also heling in the fight against terrorism.
Though violent crime nationwide is at its lowest levels in decades, the transfers of military equipment to police forces have surged. A June 2014 report by the American Civil Liberties Union found that weapons transferred through the 1,033 program rose in value from $1 million in 1990 to nearly $450 million in 2013. “Every police force of any size in this country has access to those kinds of weapons now,” said David Harris, a police expert at the University of Pittsburgh law school. “It makes it more likely to be used (and) is an escalation all by itself.”
The recent display of excessive police force in Ferguson, Missouri has raised concerns that local police forces may not only resemble military units, but that they may react to future civil unrests in a military fashion. “I am deeply concerned that the deployment of military equipment and vehicles sends a conflicting message,” said Attorney General Eric Holder, noting that at the time of the Ferguson incident, police were needed to restore tranquility, and instead local law enforcement might have escalated the situation by deploying military style weapons.
Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) said police responses like the one in Ferguson have “become the problem instead of the solution.” Representative Hank Johnson (D-Georgia) plans to introduce the “Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act” to curb police militarization. “Our main streets should be a place for business, families, and relaxation, not tanks and M16s,” Johnson recently wrote to fellow lawmakers. “Unfortunately, due to a Department of Defense (DOD) Program that transfers surplus DOD equipment to state and local law enforcement, our local police are quickly beginning to resemble paramilitary forces.”
The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports that many law enforcement officials support the transfer of equipment from the Pentagon citing the weapons can be used to proactively deter violence and terrorism, but they also urge police departments to carefully decide when to use the weapons. “A lot evolved from the military, no question,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Chief Bill McSweeney, who heads the detective division. “Is it smart for them to use that stuff and perhaps look like soldiers from Iraq going into a place? Is that smart or over the top? I’d say generally that’s smart. Now, if you use that every time a guy is writing bad checks, that’s getting rather extreme.”
Nick Gragnani, executive director of the St. Louis Area Regional Response System, said much of the equipment obtained from the Pentagon has proved essential in hurricane and disaster response efforts. “The shame of it will be … if somebody does a brushstroke and takes out all the funding and then we can no longer be prepared for that big incident,” he said. Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan), has said his committee will review the 1033 program to determine if it is being used as intended.
