We need to put an end to the 1033 program
In addition to seeing that justice is done in Ferguson – this 1033 program has got to go. It is really possible that in 2013 alone, the 1033 program has transferred $449 million in military equipment to police forces?
Yes. They brag about it on the 1033 Program webpage.
The Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO), the facilitators of 1033 program, originated from the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 1997 (FY 97). This law allows for the office to transfer excess Department of Defense property to law enforcement agencies across the United States and its territories.
Since its inception, the 1033 program has transferred more than $4.3 billion worth of property. In 2013 alone, $449,309,003.71 worth of property was transferred to law enforcement.
If your law enforcement agency chooses to participate, it may become one of the more than 8,000 participating agencies to increase its capabilities, expand its patrol coverage, reduce response times, and save the American taxpayer’s investment
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Might I suggest that you flesh out the thought ” this 1033 program has got to go” a bit more to facilitate discussion.
Reutilization is an important objective. How the hardware is being used by the recipients seems to be the problem (http://gawker.com/dont-call-the-police-militarized-the-military-is-bet-1621523647). Still, you should make a case eliminating the program by offering some alternatives for surplus material.
Here’s a thought: Let’s eliminate the 1033 program, replace it with NOTHING, and bulldoze all the crap we shouldn’t have manufactured in the first place into a landfill somewhere.
While I’m a big fan of re-use and recycling, the situation in Ferguson, MO is just showing us a plain fact: there is NO civilian application of hardware created to wage war that will not damage civility and domestic peace. Maybe there’s a larger discussion to be had about the impetus for generating all this ‘surplus’ at taxpayer expense in the forst place.
Reuse program?? Hardly. It’s just rent seeking military contractors, trying to justify making even more useless stuff to sell as taxpayers expense. Someone got wealthy…
“Here’s a thought: Let’s eliminate the 1033 program, replace it with NOTHING, and bulldoze all the crap we shouldn’t have manufactured in the first place into a landfill somewhere.”
^Yes^
Maybe this has been mentioned but journalist Radley Balko has been way, way ahead to the issue. His book ‘The Rise of the Warrior Cop’ has been out about a year. All the dirty details are in there. If you are interested in this topic pick it up.
A half of a billion dollars of “excess” equipment — equipment that is serviceable enough to hand off to locals — starts looking like backdoor funding to law enforcement rather than real excess. I think that we used to hand this kind of thing off to friendly dictators.
And you know what would be awesome? If our fiscally responsible congressional delegation could look into WHY it is that the DOD has this much excess equipment to hand off to police departments.
I crack myself up.
cassandra, The hilarious part of all this (in a noire sort of fashion) is that this equipment isn’t really surplus. If you stop and think for a moment about how many rifles, Hummers, compasses, uniforms, etc etc ad nauseam that we’ve bestowed on our puppet armies in Afghanistan and Iraq, on military “contractors,” and on dictators worldwide, this is the overage of the surplus of the overproduction for external sale that is being given away to justify the cost overruns of defense contractors AND to specifically further agendas of those who want an increasingly militarized police presence in our streets.
Another night of looting in Ferguson it’s a good thing that the President didn’t take that suggestion from that Black congressman from Georgia to enact Marshal Law for under Marshal Law looters can be shot on sight.