{"id":7989,"date":"2014-08-19T07:20:16","date_gmt":"2014-08-19T11:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=7989"},"modified":"2015-12-06T10:41:45","modified_gmt":"2015-12-06T15:41:45","slug":"militarization-of-the-police-a-cops-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=7989","title":{"rendered":"Militarization of the Police–A Cop’s View"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Militarization<\/a>I get a little miffed at the argument that the police are becoming “too militarized.”\u00a0 Detractors say that law enforcement has no need for the equipment that the U.S. Government has been distributing from its arsenal of aged or obsolete equipment.\u00a0 This controversial military equipment comes mainly in two flavors:\u00a0 weaponry or protection.<\/p>\n

As to weaponry, we are talking rifles.\u00a0 My agency just took possession of two dozen older Colt M-16s from the Department of Defense at a very low price per unit.\u00a0 Before the naysayers get in an uproar, understand that we already have more authorized fully automatic rifles for our SWAT team.\u00a0 Our street officers also field semi-automatic civilian model AR-15’s.<\/p>\n

This is representative of most police departments and sheriff’s offices around the nation.\u00a0 Rifles have been recognized as a more appropriate weapon for modern police officers than the traditional shotgun to counter today’s violent offenders.<\/p>\n

Back in February of this year, I published the results of an FBI study into Active Shooter Events from 2000-2012<\/a>.\u00a0 The recommendation by the FBI was that, “Officers ought to have firepower at least equivalent to what they will face if they go in harm\u2019s way.”\u00a0 The study urged that today’s police officers should have access to patrol rifles and protective armor.<\/span><\/p>\n

The American Civil Liberties Union says the DoD lets police agencies have “grenade launchers.”\u00a0 Actually, they are old M79 40mm launchers that the cops can only use for less lethal gas and distraction munitions.\u00a0 Police cannot even acquire deadly anti-personnel rounds for them.\u00a0 “Grenade launcher” is intentionally used for its inflammatory connotations.<\/p>\n

The Department of Defense, under the National Defense Authorization Act of 1997, 1033 Program, is not<\/em> giving police departments hand grenades, anti-tank rockets, crew-served heavy machine guns, or phased plasma rifles in the 40 watt range.\u00a0 They are handing out only the rifles and launchers that local law enforcement already have in their inventories–and have had since the 1970’s.<\/p>\n

Oh, yeah, some misinformed pundit opined the police are not trained to use said equipment.\u00a0 Well, that was written in ignorance of the many hours of mandatory training required before a deputy or officer is allowed to carry a rifle or gas launcher on the street.\u00a0 Let us also not lose sight of the fact that citizen leaders must authorize the purchase of the equipment in the first place.\u00a0 They can be a bit liability conscious.\u00a0 (Sarcasm intended.)<\/p>\n

\"Florida<\/a>As to Government-issued protective equipment, the incensed critics point to MRAPs.\u00a0 The mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles are used by law enforcement for the safety of citizens and officers.\u00a0 Police departments are purchasing surplus MRAPs for about $2,000.\u00a0 With civilian contract armored vehicles starting in the $150,000 neighborhood, you can see why there is a waiting list for the MRAPs.<\/p>\n

Again, the Government is only “giving away” armored protection that local law enforcement agencies have already used for decades.\u00a0 Sure, the MRAPs and smaller Peacekeepers are not ideal for police use, but as the informal motto of my SWAT team goes, “It’s Better than Nothing.”<\/p>\n

Folks, law enforcement could go back to revolvers and shotguns if the criminals and mentally unstable were themselves “demilitarized.”\u00a0 The police must face a growing number of individuals on the street armed with military-style weapons and explosives, whether they be active shooters, drug dealers, gang members, or terrorists (think Boston).\u00a0 Officers deaths by firearms thus far in 2014 are up by 61% over last year.\u00a0 It is no wonder we are looking for protection.<\/p>\n

Of course, I do not condone the misuses of our weapons, tactics, or training.\u00a0 I also do not think that every cop shop in every jurisdiction needs all the equipment the Government has made available.\u00a0 The procurement of any civilian LE gear is made with the approval of elected and appointed civilian officials, who determine a community’s needs.\u00a0 In fact, earlier this year the U.S. Congress voted down an amendment to repeal the DoD distribution of equipment to law enforcement (NDAA of 1997) by an overwhelming vote of 355 nay, 62 yay.<\/p>\n

I read where ACLU member Kara Dansky said that, “If you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cWhen the police have these weapons, they\u2019re more likely to use them.\u201d\u00a0 The very same could be said for the criminals.\u00a0 To use another overly simplistic saying, my view is that the police are only trying to use “the right tool for the right job.”<\/p>\n

Randall<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I get a little miffed at the argument that the police are becoming “too militarized.”\u00a0 Detractors say that law enforcement has no need for the equipment that the U.S. Government has been distributing from its arsenal of aged or obsolete equipment.\u00a0 This controversial military equipment comes mainly in two flavors:\u00a0 weaponry or protection. As to weaponry, we are talking rifles.\u00a0 My agency just took possession of two dozen older Colt M-16s from the Department of Defense at a very low price per unit.\u00a0 Before the naysayers get in an uproar, understand that we already have more authorized fully automatic rifles for our SWAT team.\u00a0 Our street officers also field semi-automatic … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[407,349,10,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-politics","category-street","category-swat"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p28xkp-24R","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7989"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8012,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7989\/revisions\/8012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}