.
.
.
[cross-posted from ladybud.com]
This past week I have watched both the print and television media’s response to the death of Michael Brown and the ensuing riots in Ferguson. For the first time, the mainstream media has finally started to question the militarization of law enforcement and its impact on our communities. My question is: What took you so long? The actions taken by local law enforcement may be surprising to many, but not to us at Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), who have worked since 2002 to reverse the damage caused by the War on Drugs. One of our guiding principles has been to restore the public’s respect for law enforcement, which has been greatly diminished by incidents such as this.
It is our nature to want to blame someone for what occurred. But this blame is multi-faceted and should also fall squarely at the federal governments’ doorstep. Ferguson is the inevitable consequence of a bad policy that incentivizes local law enforcement to adopt the federal governments’ misguided war on drugs. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 1033 program started in the early 1990’s in an effort to channel excess military equipment to state and local police through the Department of Defense (DOD). The implementation of the 1033 program was designed as a well-intentioned plan to help the cops keep up with what was perceived as the growing threat of gangs and drug dealers in the US. But in doing so, it blurred the law enforcement mission and did so without thought of the detrimental effect on the impact of the essential relationship needed between local law enforcement and their constituents in collaborating to enhance public safety.
(graphic by the ACLU. Visit the ACLU’s page on Protester Rights and check with them for updates on the situation in Ferguson, MO)
The militarization of law enforcement occurred when we crossed the drug war Rubicon and decided that making war on our communities was acceptable in an effort to eliminate drug use in America. In the Wonk Blog, journalist Christopher Ingraham discussed the link between the federal government issuing excess military equipment to law enforcement by noting that “The act gives preference to “those applications indicating that transferred property will be used for counter-drug…activities of the recipient agency.” The equipment given to local law enforcement was worth half a billion dollars last year.
It was surprising to hear Attorney General Eric Holder make this statement without accepting that the federal government itself had contributed to the problem:
“At a time when we seek to rebuild the trust between law enforcement and the local community, I am deeply concerned that the deployment of military equipment and vehicles sends a conflicting message.”
I would remind the Attorney General that the federal government has caused the militarization of our local law enforcement by giving them things like grenade launchers, armored personnel carriers and assault weapons to name just a few pieces of military hardware authorized (see this great interactive map for what’s in your state) under the 1033 program.
Holder’s comments although laudable do not give the federal government a free pass. Civil libertarians have long questioned the influence of federal legislation on state and local law enforcement through a system of fiscal incentives that include free military grade equipment, asset forfeiture, categorical and block grants — which can only be used for defined purposes that meet federal drug policy goals. Indeed, in the area of law-enforcement policy, the federal government influences all states with policy initiatives tied to an over-reaching national policy thus distorting state and local law enforcement policing strategies.
So if the DOJ and the federal government is really interested in repairing the relationship between law enforcement and its communities, it’s time for the government to accept responsibility for the harms that their drug policy incentives have helped to create. Ferguson is clearly a by-product of the escalation of tensions between communities that now see the police as occupiers and for the police that believe that they are dealing with enemy combatants.
I would suggest that our towns don’t need tanks; we need peace officers that are willing to engage, collaborate, and serve their communities. So I would ask that just like Governor Nixon of Missouri reframed Ferguson by de-escalating the use of heavy-handed policing tactics, maybe it’s time for the federal government to de-escalate its one-size-fits-all drug policy that has helped to contribute to the diminished respect between law enforcement and its constituents by ending the drug war and all its components including the 1033 program.
Hear hear.
Holder: like Captain Renault being shocked that gambling is going on in Rick’s Cafe Americain. Pathetic try from a drug warrior.
*A lot of small PD’s around the country utilize Asset Forefeiture to balance their budgets, get a hold of firearms, houses, boats and aircraft. This is called wine from the tea spoon and pretty soon, those Grants from Congress to improve their Departments wind up by getting free helicopters, MRAP (Bomb Proof – Armored Personnel Carriers) and yes even M-1 Tanks….all of which they used to call – “War Surplus Supplies”. They get CAR’s – Carbine Automated Rifles….., body armor, CS,CN,Stun Grenades, Flash Bang Grenades, Smoke Grenades, they even get the latest uniforms and Kevlar helmets. How can they afford to turn this stuff down. Every member of the PD get to take all this stuff home for the first opportunity to use it.
All in all, SWAT unit deployment is usually reserved for Hostage Situations and Terrorist Organzational Events. The use of these items in Ferguson should have resulted in the immedate firing of the Police Chief of Ferguson. Federal law needs to be implemented for the specific uses of all Military Equipment. Especially Uniforms!
*Did we forget the Exotic and Luxury cars……as well as highly prized and collectible firearms which are shuffled under the rug……..and wind up in some Chief’s backyard or garage. Asset Forefeiture……..can’t be it with a stick…..unless the guy is black and gives up…..without a fight! How much fun can you have then?
9-11 happened …. that is the “rational.”
Yeah dude! 9-11! That’s why fleeing black and brown kids need to get shot in the back every week. You nailed it!
Hey didn’t I write something about 9-11 a while back? Oh yeah… http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2011/09/fk-september-11/
“11 Mary Six…..call the Station!” in the good old days….when we had Police Story cops……
An overly simplistic view, as usual.
As Mr. Toro points out, the 1033 (originally 1208) program was developed in 1990 to fight the “war” on drugs. That, in case you hadn’t noticed, predates 9/11.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1033_program
hear is a thought….let’s pull all the police out of ferguson and see what happens.
and then when the public complains that the police are no where to be found, just play back the tape of all the people in the streets demanding that the police leave.
it’s sort of like the middle east…nobody wants us there but as soon as isis starts beheading people, everybody wants to know where they are.
So forget about the common sense middle, all we can do is pick either side of the lunatic fringe? NO TANKS! (OOPS,… THANKS!)
“Our towns don’t need tanks”
You are right.
They need voters!
INTELLIGENT voters,, or else THOSE, vote WITH THEIR FEET, and situations like Anahei….I mean Ferguson, are what remain behind!
return to yesteryear where disagreements were settled by duels. Or lynching.
Because that’s working so well in Detroit and Chicago?
So you want to return to settling disagreements by lynching?
You’re now in the running for Asshole of the Year. I’d delete your comment, but I think that rubbing your nose in it forever is even better.
Lynching was a reality of our past.
A reality of the current is the well armed criminals the local cops face now.
And that, somehow, makes you want to return to the days of lynching — when people like you, of course, were safe from being lynched.
Asshole of the Year. You’ll be hard to beat.
Uh, maybe this was a sarcastic remark?
Cook has made no attempt to walk back his remark. No, it wasn’t sarcasm he employed…it was ignorance.
Can anyone confirm / refute what I came across yesterday in a newsletter email, to the effect that the Pentagon’s ‘Garage Sale’ to LEAs, like ALL OTHER forms of Government “Assistance” comes WITH STRINGS, this being a 1-Year “Use it or Lose it” clause, so hardware is being rolled out wherever it can be (IR)rationalized, to ‘beat the clock’. Sounds plausible, but is it true or false? Any leads?
BBORW, you may have hit on a great solution: Lend Lease! Just like in WWII, we gave all those Aircobras to the Soviet Union. They had the engine mounted behind the pilot………..we won’t bother to go into what happened with that P-39….but lets just say……..they needed a lot of replacement parts. Maybe this could work with the PD’s?
While I cringe at the military image of our police, including the militaristic conduct of grieving officers at the funerals of their fallen brothers, I think the militarization of law enforcement is here to stay. Body armor and assault weapons are a fact of life among our criminal elements, including gangs, and law enforcement has to take on that element and to do so needs all the protection and firepower available.
Since when do gangs have body armor and assault weapons? I think you’ve watched too many scary action movies, buddy…
while watching the events in ferguson last night and I ended up back at my second underlying thought, what would happen if, as requested, demanded, suggested by some in the crowd and some in the media, the police simply went away, completely withdrew allowing everybody on the street their first amendment rights of free speech and free assembly. would our better angels prevail precluding looting, stealing and physical assaults or would the community devolve into the lord of the flies?
One extreme or the other eh bud?
i really do not know,,,,,that is why i am asking the question
Arrghh… we both posed our remarks as questions in a superficial way. But YOU were presenting a false choice, between brutal law enforcement that breaks people’s heads unnecessarily, and law enforcement that does nothing. As though there were no reasonable middle ground.
People that make presentations like that shouldn’t get to pretend “it was just a question.”
but i was not advocating for one position or the other. i do believe that it really is an interesting paradox where there are good arguments on both sides. sure, in a perfect world, all law enforcement would be like andy of mayberry or the guys from car fifty four but that assumes that all criminals are benign and not fueled by drugs and greed. there is a middle ground but it takes responsible people on both sides and, sadly, watching the chaos in ferguson and the beheadings in the middle east, i am beginning to lose hope that compromise is truly possible
The usual refrain: if we can’t kill some of you once in a while with impunity try life without the police. Like it’s an unavoidable concomitant. Horse shit.
Depends. In your hypothetical game of ‘Fantasy Thugball’, do the ‘angels’ get to defend themselves, or can they only wring their hands and wag their fingers? I think THAT outcome is predictable.
Norm Stamper, who was Seattle’s Police Chief in 1999, has written about this in the Guardian:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/19/ferguson-police-force-punish-cops
*Sadly, the Sibionese Liberation Army ruined the entire Police Response System in the United States. These guys made fanatics……seem like boy scouts. They were armed with thousands and thousand of rounds of 30.06 ammo, combined with the stolen Browning Automatic Rifles….which they also got from National Guard Armories. The LAPD started out all armed with Model 17 .38 caliber six shot revolvers. During the stand and attack on the SLA……some PD went home and came back with Model 70 hunting rifles and their own Government Issued Colt .45’s for the prior service folks. Finally, when the LAPD figured out they could be there seveal days of even weeks….they fired off some CS and CN grenades which lit the 20’s house on fire in no time. They burned them out……and we never heard if anyone wanted to surrender, but as we can see from the WACO event …….they just tend to burn your house down if you are too effective defending it. This tactic of course was used by the Indians against white settlers and the cattlemen against the shep herders. Local Sheriff used it very effectively against black slaves and just plain intransigent bad guys. The North Hollywood shoot out against two guys with Automatic Rifles and Body Armor, along with various FBI shoot outs with bad results…..guaranteed that Law Enforcement was not going to be “outgunned” again…..EVER! Enter SWAT and Special Operations Divisions of PD’s..
Ron and Anna … no offense but you two are stuck in the 60’s.
*Ever heard of the black panthers
*The rumor of the day was that the Black Panthers were infiltrated by the FBI , early on undercover and two of them were directed to take out Malcom X..which they did. The other idea was put out by the FBI that Elijah Muhammed, the mentor of Mohammed Ali……put two guys under his control into the Malcom X camp and dusted him at a community meeting……which is how Malcom X was taken out. The FBI wanted to be sure that the news version was that TWO different Black Groups were fighting over control of militant blacks in the United States. You can believe what you want…..we believe that LBJ took out both Malcom X and Martin Luther King, RFK and JFK….but then….as you say……we are stuck in the 60’s!
You will wish that you had a tank when a semi loaded with 20 well armed terrorists backs up to the local “no carry” shopping mall dock – or worse.
Now I can see why you are Dan C’s only friend.
Are you saying that is not possible Lucas? If you think so, you have your head further up your ass than I figured.
“You will wish that you had a tank when a semi loaded with 20 well armed terrorists backs up to the local “no carry” shopping mall dock – or worse.”
This is what the OJB has become……
Greg Diamond, David Zenger and this nut job.
When reality strikes home, I hope none of my friends are in the house.
And yet we are doing fine, healthy and stable readership since Feb. 2013. (It would have been “since January 2013,” but the death of Huell Howser that month bumped our readership by almost 11,000 that month.) And the relative lack of anonymous character assassination in the comments helps us be taken seriously by those who want to seek out incisive analysis rather than a circle jerk.
*We have seen all the Chuck Norris films and realize that we have enough returning Special Forces guys that have retired to take care of business when the need arises. As they used to say..in the old days……and you better bring your lunch……!