The Obama administration moved today to prohibit federal agencies from giving local cops certain kinds of military equipment such as grenade launchers, bayonets and high-caliber weapons in the wake of controversy over a "militarized" police response to unrest last summer in Ferguson, Missouri.
The new prohibitions are part of an executive order issued by President Barack Obama for federal agencies to review the kinds of equipment they provide to local and state police.
Obama traveled Monday to Camden, N.J., to highlight crime reduction and community policing tactics that the administration hopes can be a model around the nation. A spate of officer-involved shootings and the deaths of African-Americans in confrontations with police has made policing an issue the administration is forced to deal with.
"We've seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people a feeling like there's an occupying force as opposed to a force that's part of the community that's protecting them and serving them," Obama said in Camden Monday. "It can alienate and intimidate local residents and send the wrong message."
This article makes me feel very hopeful. I'm glad Obama shares my view with this situation but I feel this decision isn't getting enough attention at the moment. It reminds me of the 3rd amendment, a law also created to limit the powers abused by a local force.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/18/politics/bayonets-police-white-house/index.html
Thank goodness. There needs to be some kind of control on these massive weapons which really have no place outside of a war zone.
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