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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums(Oops) Police Abusing Military Gear Could Be Forced to Pay Back Millions in Grants
http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/345-justice/25798-police-abusing-military-gear-could-be-forced-to-pay-back-millions-in-grantsBy Dan Roberts, Guardian UK
10 September 14
US police forces that use military equipment earmarked for counter-terrorism to handle public order disturbances instead could be forced to repay millions of dollars in grants, under a review revealed during the first congressional hearings into this summers riots in Ferguson, Missouri.
The Department of Justice and the White House were already investigating whether to limit federal programs that have showered local law enforcement agencies with armoured vehicles and military-style equipment in recent years.
But the Department of Homeland Security, one of three US agencies primarily responsible for providing the equipment, said it was now considering whether to demand that its grants be repaid if police are found to have broken a little-known rule prohibiting its use in riot suppression.
We have a range of remedies should [the DOJ] find non-compliance, including recoupment of funds, Brian Kamoie of the Federal Emergency Management Agency told Kentucky senator Rand Paul during a hearing of the Senate homeland security committee.
Response to Jackpine Radical (Original post)
hlthe2b This message was self-deleted by its author.
hlthe2b
(102,328 posts)issue...
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)Note absence of edits on OP (but not on this response, which was edited to add this text).
hlthe2b
(102,328 posts)Taitertots
(7,745 posts)ACAB. Cops don't care because WE pay for it.
eomer
(3,845 posts)and the police will still have been turned into a military force?
What a deal (for the MIC 1%ers)!
Taitertots
(7,745 posts)eomer
(3,845 posts)What I was trying say was that otherwise (if the police themselves don't pay for it), then we will have paid for it twice over - once through our federal taxes and then again through our local taxes. But in your solution then we will have paid for it just the once that we already have (which is obviously better).
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Our Federal tax dollars get turned into war machines.
Our community ( city, county, state) tax dollars ( plus a lot of Federal tax dollars as a match) get turned into ANYTHING
the police/sheriff/Highway Patrol wants to buy
OR
has to pay out in lawsuits.
Our tax dollars pay the high premiums for the insurance that city/county/state offices has to buy, including liability insurance.
WE are buying the tools THEY use to oppress us.
Taitertots
(7,745 posts)When officers willfully violate the law, they should be personally responsible for it.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Re-edit, to try again.
The money that police get comes from our taxes.
The police deposit their money, from our taxes, into a bank.
They then spend it, just like anyone else with a job does.
Just because it is in their bank account does not make the $$$ suddenly NOT coming from taxes we pay.
Taitertots
(7,745 posts)If YOU get a fine is it the same thing as fining your employer? The money comes out of your pocket, not your employers.
whistler162
(11,155 posts)Taitertots
(7,745 posts)Why should we hold police to a lower standard than everyone else?
I break the law, i pay the fine. Cops break the law, we pay the fine.
postulater
(5,075 posts)it would seem more sensible to allocate it to the National Guard rather than the local police.
The National Guard is already trained on stuff like that and would have better supervision.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)National Guard is military.
Nothing says you cannot turn civilian police into a military looking/acting force, so that is what they are doing.
Worse yet, some states are using PRIVATE contractors to act as police.
postulater
(5,075 posts)but wrong again.
This crap never ends.
Somedays it seems like Cheney never left office.
AllyCat
(16,211 posts)Didn't think they had that kind of ethics.
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)And there's some winking and nudging in there too.
NJCher
(35,707 posts)And that's de facto proof right there that they knew what could happen.
And can you believe this? College and university campus security is getting this type of equipment if they have an affiliation with the local police department in which the campus is located.
As a university teacher, I was tailed by an unmarked police car in a highly aggressive fashion. This car had tinted windows and six (count 'em!) six antennas on top of the car!
Later, at a teacher's meeting, I found out the campus was getting equipment through the police department (it had come through the Defense Department).
They are probably salivating for another Kent State. Then they can mow the students and faculty down with greater efficiency than what they were able to do in 1970. Bayonets! Assault rifles! Armored vehicles!! Just imagine the possibilities!
Cher
AllyCat
(16,211 posts)Still, why would the NSA care if cops opened fire on protesters? Keeps us all in line.
Garion_55
(1,915 posts)Tsiyu
(18,186 posts)Methinks a lotta no-neck Bubba deputies and porn-stashed captains might be sweatin' under the collar when they realize this.