DHS & DoD Funding Increases Militarization of Local Police Depts Nationwide
Susanne Posel
Occupy Corporatism
March 9, 2013
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has published an educational document into the obvious militarization of local police departments (LPDs). The ACLU explains: “American neighborhoods are increasingly being policed by cops armed with the weapons and tactics of war.”
Through federal funding state and LPDs are being trained in military tactical operations and gaining access to military grade weapons to be used against the average American citizen.
Earlier this month, the ACLU “filed more than 255 public records requests to determine the extent to which local police departments are using federally subsidized military technology and tactics that are traditionally used overseas.” The purpose was to understand the extent of the militarization of LPDs and their impact on the Constitutional rights of Americans.
Karen Dansky, attorney for the ACLU explained: “Equipping state and local law enforcement with military weapons and vehicles, military tactical training, and actual military assistance to conduct traditional law enforcement erodes civil liberties and encourages increasingly aggressive policing, particularly in poor neighborhoods and communities of color. We’ve seen examples of this in several localities, but we don’t know the dimensions of the problem.”
The Rest…HERE
