U.S. lawmakers want to end transfers of military equipment to police
Source: Reuters
U.S. lawmakers want to end transfers of military equipment to police
Source: Reuters - Fri, 15 Aug 2014 19:49 GMT
By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers alarmed by the aggressive police response to protests in Ferguson, Missouri, are pushing for Congress to limit the Pentagon's ability to provide civilian police departments with military equipment such as armored vehicles designed for the battlefield.
Georgia Democrat Hank Johnson wrote colleagues in the House of Representatives this week seeking support for legislation to curtail a program that passes surplus equipment from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to municipal U.S. police forces, free of charge.
Because of the program "our local police are quickly beginning to resemble paramilitary forces," Johnson said.
Three other Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee wrote to Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Republican, to ask for a committee hearing on "recent incidents of local law enforcement using excessive force." They pointed to events in Ferguson, where demonstrators have protested the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager by police, and elsewhere.
Read more: http://www.trust.org/item/20140815194147-n1mvm/
= new reply since forum marked as read
