Why does a police department which hasn’t had an officer
killed in the line of duty in over 125 years in a town of less than
20,000 people need tactical military vests like those used by soldiers
in Afghanistan? For that matter, why does a police department in a city
of 35,000 people need a military-grade helicopter? And what possible
use could police at Ohio State University have for acquiring a
heavily-armored vehicle intended to withstand IED blasts?
Why are police departments across the country acquiring
heavy-duty military equipment and weaponry? For the same reason that
perfectly good roads get repaved, perfectly good equipment gets retired
and replaced, and perfectly good employees spend their days twiddling
their thumbs—and all of it at taxpayer expense. It’s called make-work
programs, except in this case, instead of unnecessary busy work to keep
people employed, communities across America are finding themselves
“gifted” with drones, tanks, grenade launchers and other military
equipment better suited to the battlefield. And as I document in my
book, A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State,
it’s all being done through federal programs that allow the military to
“gift” battlefield-appropriate weapons, vehicles and equipment to
domestic police departments across the country.
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