Capitol Report
By State Representative, Leon D. Young
Leon D. Young
The facts of the incident that led to the killing of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri police officer are still foggy.
However the killing was followed by a massive show of force by cops decked out in military gear, exposed a dangerous issue that, for the most part, has been largely overlooked by the mainstream news media and Washington’s political establishment: An alarming militarization of American police departments.
The growing militarization of U.S. law enforcement agencies does not necessarily help to protect Americans in their homeland.
Increasing the number of heavily armed uniformed policemen who abuse their power and even shoot to death innocent citizens, not only Blacks, should be a cause for concern and problematic to all of us.
In hindsight, most would agree that a 1997 bank robbery in California was chiefly responsible for providing the impetus for local police departments seeking high-powered rifles and military gear.
During a televised gun battle, two armed suspects, dressed for military combat, held the local authorities at bay for more than 45 minutes outside a Bank of America in North Hollywood.
Police officers were completely outgunned, responding to the assault with only.
9 mm handguns, or rifles borrowed from a nearby gun shop.
A study by the ACLU estimates in 1990, the transferred $1 million worth of military equipment to local and state police.
Last year, that amount jumped to nearly $450 million.
It should be noted that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has given “first responders” $35 billion in grants, since the agency’s creation in 2002, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting.
Much of that was used to buy military hardware, such as armored vehicles.
When U.S. combat units arebeing disbanded and front-line fighter aircraft grounded for lack of funding, there’s absolutely no justification for giving high-powered automatic weapons, night vision goggles and armored vehicles to thousands of burgs across America.
If cities truly need SWAT teams, local residents should pay for them.
Eliminate federal bucks and thousands of SWAT units will simply be dissolved, because there’s no need for them.
Let the truth be told, there must be a concerted effort to end the federal grants that encourage police forces to acquire gear that is more appropriate for the battlefield than protecting and serving honest taxpayers in this country.