Support McCaskell as she seeks to demilitarize local police

[Skidmore]

We can lend our voices to support this effort and to see it through. It is a good place to start.

Lawmaker drafting bill to demilitarize local police

By Mario Trujillo and Jesse Byrnes - 08/14/14 01:58 PM EDT

A Democratic congressman from Georgia is drafting legislation to limit a Pentagon program that provides surplus military equipment to local law enforcement.

Rep. Hank Johnson is pushing the legislation amid the situation in Ferguson, Mo., where an armed police presence has taken to the streets after mass protests over a police shooting.

"Our main streets should be a place for business, families, and relaxation, not tanks and M16s," Johnson wrote in a Dear Colleague letter sent Thursday to other members of Congress.

“As the tragedy in Missouri unfolds, one thing is clear. Our local police are becoming militarized,” Johnson's office said in a statement.

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[Dawson Leery]

1. Maybe something will be done.

I have been contacting my reps (and others too) for the past 7 years without any positive responses.

[merrily]

3. When I suggest that contacting them rarely if ever causes them to change a vote,

it seldom goes well.

But I agree with you. The idea that someone is going to break with his or her caucus because 1000 calls came in is not convincing to me.

[merrily]

2. Only since Ferguson are they aware that the police are becoming militarized?

Isn't a hoot how DUers figured that out well before Ferguson, but it flew right over the heads of the people whose day job it is to notice things like this?

I thought they left Washington D.C. so much so that they could stay in touch with the realities back home. Realities other than their need to fund raise, that is.

That said, yes, let's stop the Pentagon from putting their military equipment on our streets.

[freshwest]

4. Yes, it's being introduced by a Democrat in D.C. It has Holder's approval, too.

Needs to be pushed along. K & R.

[sheshe2]

5. KnR