Michael Shank and Elizabeth Beavers
The Guardian
Oct. 7, 2013
America’s streets are looking more and more like a war zone. Last week, in a
small county in upstate New York with a population of roughly 120,000 people,
county legislators approved the receipt of a 20-ton Mine Resistant Ambush
Protected (MRAP) vehicle, donated by the US Defense Department to the county
sheriff.
Between the Armored Personnel Carriers locking down main streets in major
American cities – mimicking our MRAPs in Afghanistan – or Special Weapons and
Tactics (Swat) and Special Forces units canvassing our country, if we’re not
careful, this militarization of our domestic policing will make-over America,
and fast.
Here’s how it all happened. A little-known Pentagon program has been quietly
militarizing American police forces for years. A total of $4.2bn worth of
equipment has been distributed by the Defense Department to municipal law
enforcement agencies, with a record $546m in 2012 alone.
Read more
Monday, October 7, 2013
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