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sheshe2

(83,319 posts)
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 06:38 PM Dec 2014

Executive Order on Police Militarization



CNN: President Obama Preparing Executive Order On Police Militarization

President Barack Obama, responding to concerns over the use of military-style equipment during protests in Ferguson, Missouri over the summer, is asking aides to prepare an executive order that would better track the weapons and gear flowing from the federal government to local police departments around the nation.

The order, which he’s expected to preview Monday afternoon during a meeting with law enforcement and local government officials, would mandate federal agencies to review the way they provide U.S. police with heavy equipment like tanks and aircraft.

…. The White House will also ask for $263 million to provide police departments with body cameras, which advocates say would provide a clearer picture of confrontations like the incident in Ferguson, in which a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager. The funds would also go toward training.

http://theobamadiary.com/2014/12/01/executive-order-on-police-militarization/

This is my~ 20K post!
59 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Executive Order on Police Militarization (Original Post) sheshe2 Dec 2014 OP
that equipment should go to the National Guard not the police... VanillaRhapsody Dec 2014 #1
Didn't it used to? I wonder if the National Guard is still getting it or if police departments are ChisolmTrailDem Dec 2014 #3
Well as most National Guards are decimated....I think the police....because it suits VanillaRhapsody Dec 2014 #4
Yup, better to have that equipment bearing down on the populace than to have it collecting ChisolmTrailDem Dec 2014 #7
If it is being used....it has to be replaced.... VanillaRhapsody Dec 2014 #10
"decimated" huh pasto76 Dec 2014 #17
I am speaking from what I have heard about them....that the economy has adverselly effected VanillaRhapsody Dec 2014 #25
You took the words right off my keyboard meow2u3 Dec 2014 #15
yeah thanks for calling us second class soldiers pasto76 Dec 2014 #18
Title 10, US code. National Guard ARE militia. gcomeau Dec 2014 #29
I'm using "militia" in the technical Constitutional context meow2u3 Dec 2014 #37
So Im in the Colorado Army National Guard in a combat MOS 13M pasto76 Dec 2014 #24
Oh god an offended National Guardsman... VanillaRhapsody Dec 2014 #26
THAT's the part that scares US.....why we want the National Guard to do that job...NOT Police VanillaRhapsody Dec 2014 #27
who cares whether their posture and training and sqared-awayness are fake paulkienitz Dec 2014 #34
right Locrian Dec 2014 #36
Well put. All the more reason not to give untrained people military gear. bhikkhu Dec 2014 #46
Why do cops even need all that crap? ncjustice80 Dec 2014 #48
And the Bearcat Armored Vehicles that cost over truedelphi Dec 2014 #55
If some of you will remember VA_Jill Dec 2014 #40
I absolutely agree. But this OP says that Pres Obama wants to "track" the equipment. rhett o rick Dec 2014 #56
1st Rec! Hekate Dec 2014 #2
Wont this thrill the teaparty who are all certain that the federal govt is collecting weapons to NoJusticeNoPeace Dec 2014 #5
LOL Cali_Democrat Dec 2014 #9
ayep. The loons will all screech that ..here it is, see weTOLDYOU this is what he would do... Volaris Dec 2014 #16
The TeaBaggers will laugh at this. The Pres isn't going to curtail the weapon sales, he is merely rhett o rick Dec 2014 #52
Adding congrats on 20K posts, m'dear. Also, that equipment needs to be in the Nat'l Guard Armory... Hekate Dec 2014 #6
Yes, I get your point about an SU invasion, it's your avatar which I have always loved. sheshe2 Dec 2014 #12
Here is an uncropped version of that image Xipe Totec Dec 2014 #8
I don't think it was edited out. These are two separate pictures. The pic up top is when more guys okaawhatever Dec 2014 #38
Different photo, yes. But the other one was cropped that's for sure. nt Xipe Totec Dec 2014 #47
Cameras and additional training will probably be the best brer cat Dec 2014 #11
Yes it's a good start, brer cat. sheshe2 Dec 2014 #14
Not one more fucking bullet until they're all wearing cameras all the time. Scuba Dec 2014 #13
IF you had a nickle for every post... Omaha Steve Dec 2014 #19
Yes, put cameras on them. Maedhros Dec 2014 #20
The militarization ITSELF needs to be stopped and reversed. woo me with science Dec 2014 #21
Well of course it is this Presidents fault it always is and always will be. sheshe2 Dec 2014 #35
So did you notice what the action the President is taking with this Exec Order? TRACKING rhett o rick Dec 2014 #53
congrats on 20k!!! k&r.... spanone Dec 2014 #22
Good on Obama. n/t Comrade Grumpy Dec 2014 #23
For what? For demanding that we start " better track[ing] the weapons"? What will tracking rhett o rick Dec 2014 #57
Thank you President Obama! Cha Dec 2014 #28
Thanks Cha! sheshe2 Dec 2014 #33
Good on Obama, seriously 99th_Monkey Dec 2014 #30
Same here!!!!! RKP5637 Dec 2014 #32
Thanks! sheshe2 Dec 2014 #49
Sadly this is the Obama I voted for also. He didn't say he would do anything but "track". rhett o rick Dec 2014 #58
Not only that 99th_Monkey Dec 2014 #59
Happy 20k post! RKP5637 Dec 2014 #31
Lol~ sheshe2 Dec 2014 #50
Congrats on 20k. Glad Obama is giving a reasonable response. nt okaawhatever Dec 2014 #39
Fuck some better tracking and reviews STOP THE FLOW OF THE HARDWARE AND REPO what is out there. TheKentuckian Dec 2014 #41
Thank you. More corporate messaging to normalize the unconscionable. woo me with science Dec 2014 #42
Have you lobbied congress yet? sheshe2 Dec 2014 #43
But sheshe this exec order accomplishes nothing. Zero, zilch. As CIC why doesn't he simply rhett o rick Dec 2014 #54
The entire Democratic leadership opposed Grayson amendment to stop arming cops with DOD weapons woo me with science Dec 2014 #45
Hell yes! kentuck Dec 2014 #44
Can you spell Bull Shit? This is more rhetoric. What action will be taken? More tracking? rhett o rick Dec 2014 #51
 

ChisolmTrailDem

(9,463 posts)
3. Didn't it used to? I wonder if the National Guard is still getting it or if police departments are
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 06:42 PM
Dec 2014

getting the bulk of that equipment.

 

VanillaRhapsody

(21,115 posts)
4. Well as most National Guards are decimated....I think the police....because it suits
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 06:43 PM
Dec 2014

the Military Industrial Complex...

 

ChisolmTrailDem

(9,463 posts)
7. Yup, better to have that equipment bearing down on the populace than to have it collecting
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 06:57 PM
Dec 2014

dust 28 days of the month when it's not being used in NG weekend exercises.

pasto76

(1,589 posts)
17. "decimated" huh
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 08:31 PM
Dec 2014

no more or less than 'big army'. Thanks to the deficit loonies we are facing reduced budgets, again, this year. Are you speaking from experience? because it doesnt seem like it.

 

VanillaRhapsody

(21,115 posts)
25. I am speaking from what I have heard about them....that the economy has adverselly effected
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 08:48 PM
Dec 2014

their Armories in most towns....

meow2u3

(24,743 posts)
15. You took the words right off my keyboard
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 07:59 PM
Dec 2014

Military equipment belongs to the National Guard (militia soldiers), not peace officers.

pasto76

(1,589 posts)
18. yeah thanks for calling us second class soldiers
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 08:34 PM
Dec 2014

we're not "militia". You can parse it all you want from your outside view. We're not.

 

gcomeau

(5,764 posts)
29. Title 10, US code. National Guard ARE militia.
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 08:54 PM
Dec 2014

I imagine you take offense because of the association with the morons running around the woods *calling* themselves militias with their idiot gun toting buddies. And I sympathize, they give the word a bad name. But the fact remains, National Guard = Militia


http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/311

(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and

meow2u3

(24,743 posts)
37. I'm using "militia" in the technical Constitutional context
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 09:18 PM
Dec 2014

The National Guard is technically and legally the militia. I didn't mean to offend Guard soldiers.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/311

0 U.S. Code § 311 - Militia: composition and classes

Current through Pub. L. 113-185. (See Public Laws for the current Congress.)

US Code
Notes

prev | next
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

pasto76

(1,589 posts)
24. So Im in the Colorado Army National Guard in a combat MOS 13M
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 08:46 PM
Dec 2014

First of all, none of you, nor I, really know how much of, if any, of the equipment seen in Ferguson or this OP pic is from that program. Didnt DOD confirm that St louis metro/county hadnt received anything from that program? Please reply if you can document otherwise. I will need some hard facts to counter the righties in my armory in the wake of this executive action.

Those masks might be mere 'gas masks'. I have a biological/chemical protective mask. Mil spec for genuine CBRN warfare folks. At this point in my career, CS and tear gas barely affect my combat effectiveness.

Lacking intel briefings that women in loose and light clothing are packing vest bombs, I wouldnt feel a need to aim, direct or point my loaded weapon at that person. I say this as someone who had to make that choice in iraq hundreds of times a day.

the 'local security' in this pic is a joke. Muzzles are all over the place. bootlaces hanging out. lack of posture. There is no 'unit' I can see. no team. I would bet any of you that the officers in this pic were constantly calling audibles over each other in really excited voices. If you train for this, you dont have to talk that much.

I wish I could let everyone into my head so you could see the how non-military these clowns are. its laughable. It looks like dress up. Just as absurd as when my 4 year old climbs into my boots and shuffles around. When "militarization of police" pics get posted here it looks like dress up to me. We call it 'military bearing' and these clowns just never seem to have a shred of it.

 

VanillaRhapsody

(21,115 posts)
26. Oh god an offended National Guardsman...
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 08:50 PM
Dec 2014


No one is trying to disparage the National Guard.....quite the opposite...
 

VanillaRhapsody

(21,115 posts)
27. THAT's the part that scares US.....why we want the National Guard to do that job...NOT Police
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 08:51 PM
Dec 2014

they are not properly trained for war....and they shouldn't be...

paulkienitz

(1,295 posts)
34. who cares whether their posture and training and sqared-awayness are fake
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 09:10 PM
Dec 2014

when the bullets they use are real? Doesn't make any difference to the person who was shot.

bhikkhu

(10,708 posts)
46. Well put. All the more reason not to give untrained people military gear.
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 11:42 PM
Dec 2014

There's nothing less safe, for everyone, than a guy with a bunch of weapons and gear who doesn't know how to handle it properly.

ncjustice80

(948 posts)
48. Why do cops even need all that crap?
Tue Dec 2, 2014, 12:28 AM
Dec 2014

Anything more powerful than a shotgun is patently absurd. Fat fucking donut eaters.

truedelphi

(32,324 posts)
55. And the Bearcat Armored Vehicles that cost over
Tue Dec 2, 2014, 06:23 PM
Dec 2014

Four hundred thousand dollars and are "gifted" to police departments across the nation are ridiculous. First of all they tear up the local street when they drive down it. This is due to fact they were developped for driving on rural unpaved roads.

Secondly they were developped to withstand IED charges of Iraq and Afghanistan and really won't help the averge police deprtment 99.9% of the time.

VA_Jill

(9,852 posts)
40. If some of you will remember
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 09:34 PM
Dec 2014

when our military, WHICH INCLUDED A HELL OF A LOT OF OUR NATIONAL GUARD, went to Iraq, our National Guard had pretty piss-poor equipment in a lot of cases. The unit my son was in, and a lot of others, had to pillage local dumpsites and put what they called "hillbilly armor" on their vehicles. And Rummy said, when he visited, "Well, you go to war with the army you have", which, if you will also recall, cost him his job. HELL YES, that equipment should go to the National Guard!!!

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
56. I absolutely agree. But this OP says that Pres Obama wants to "track" the equipment.
Tue Dec 2, 2014, 09:22 PM
Dec 2014

He didn't say he wanted to stop selling it to the police, although he has that power as CIC. He didn't say he would see the equipment would go to the National Guard. What he did say is that he would issue an Exec Order to have the equipment better tracked. BETTER TRACKED. In other words, nothing will change.

NoJusticeNoPeace

(5,018 posts)
5. Wont this thrill the teaparty who are all certain that the federal govt is collecting weapons to
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 06:51 PM
Dec 2014

imprison them?

I know, lets stop making the weapons all together.

Volaris

(10,260 posts)
16. ayep. The loons will all screech that ..here it is, see weTOLDYOU this is what he would do...
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 08:13 PM
Dec 2014

And now when obama starts using the all-gay Army to put white people in his Kenyan mooslem secular death camps, even the POLICE won't have guns to stop him!!!!!.

You watch, this will be EXACTLY the kind of crazy that gets air, internet, and Print.

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
52. The TeaBaggers will laugh at this. The Pres isn't going to curtail the weapon sales, he is merely
Tue Dec 2, 2014, 05:54 PM
Dec 2014

going to better TRACK the weapons.

Hekate

(90,189 posts)
6. Adding congrats on 20K posts, m'dear. Also, that equipment needs to be in the Nat'l Guard Armory...
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 06:55 PM
Dec 2014

...safely LOCKED UP in case the Soviet Union invades, if you get my point.

The militarization of our police departments into something that looks like an occupying army is another of the rotten legacies of Bush-Cheney and is absolutely unacceptable in anything that purports to be a free society.

sheshe2

(83,319 posts)
12. Yes, I get your point about an SU invasion, it's your avatar which I have always loved.
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 07:12 PM
Dec 2014

The display of force in Ferguson was nothing short of despicable. This sure is not Fallujah and their was no need of the military display a shock and awe campaign against protestors.

Thanks for the congrats~ lol, I won't tell how long I have been even though I know you can look it up. I think I talk to much.

Hekate.

okaawhatever

(9,453 posts)
38. I don't think it was edited out. These are two separate pictures. The pic up top is when more guys
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 09:21 PM
Dec 2014

have their weapons drawn on the civilian.

brer cat

(24,401 posts)
11. Cameras and additional training will probably be the best
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 07:07 PM
Dec 2014

we get from the Ferguson outrage, but it is a very good start.

Congrats, she. K&R

sheshe2

(83,319 posts)
14. Yes it's a good start, brer cat.
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 07:22 PM
Dec 2014

From the looks of protests and "die ins" across the country and other parts of the world, I can only hope for change. I hope that Michael's death is the catalyst to tip the scales for equality for PoC and a way of opening peoples eyes to the fact that racism is alive and well in 2014 and we need to stop it. It is the disease of white people and it is deadly to PoC.

and thanks, brercat.

woo me with science

(32,139 posts)
21. The militarization ITSELF needs to be stopped and reversed.
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 08:42 PM
Dec 2014

Last edited Mon Dec 1, 2014, 09:49 PM - Edit history (1)

The programs that *this* president resurrected and expanded need to be ended.

It's almost certain that if the police agencies cooperate, the ACLU will find that the militarization trend has accelerated since Kraska's studies more than a decade ago. All of the policies, incentives and funding mechanisms that were driving the trend then are still in effect now. And most of them have grown in size and scope.

The George W. Bush administration actually began scaling down the Byrne and COPS programs in the early 2000s, part of a general strategy of leaving law enforcement to states and localities. But the Obama administration has since resurrected both programs. The Byrne program got a $2 billion surge in funding as part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, by far the largest budget in the program's 25-year history. Obama also gave the COPS program $1.55 billion that same year, a 250 percent increase over its 2008 budget, and again the largest budget in the program's history. Vice President Joe Biden had championed both programs during his time in the Senate.

The Pentagon's 1033 program has also exploded under Obama. In the program's monthly newsletter (Motto: "From Warfighter to Crimefighter&quot , its director announced in October 2011 that his office had given away a record $500 million in military gear in fiscal year 2011, which he noted, "passes the previous mark by several hundred million dollars." He added, "I believe we can exceed that in FY 12.”

Then there are the Department of Homeland Security's anti-terrorism grants. The Center for Investigative Reporting found in a 2011 investigation that since 2001, DHS has given out more than $34 billion in grants to police departments across the country, many of which have been used to purchase military-grade guns, tanks, armor, and armored personnel carriers. The grants have gone to such unlikely terrorism targets as Fargo, N.D.; Canyon County, Idaho; and Tuscaloosa, Ala.


The programs need to be ended.

We need a public, national database on police violence toward citizens.

And we need relentless attention from the DOJ to cases of police violence until this garbage stops.

Cameras to watch the militarized police are not enough. The militarization must be reversed. The police state must be ended. I see nothing serious from this administration showing that they have any thought, much less intention, of doing that.

This ongoing militarization is federally driven, bipartisan, and as much a part of the growing police state as the mass surveillance, prison industrial complex, and assaults on journalism, other political protesters, and whistleblowers.

We need much more than cameras. We need clear action to REVERSE this active militarization of our police forces by corporate politicians.




You will know the corporate Third Way by their refusal to demand an actual end to militarization.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5872179



sheshe2

(83,319 posts)
35. Well of course it is this Presidents fault it always is and always will be.
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 09:14 PM
Dec 2014

Obama sucks Obama sucks, got it woo.

PS you seem to have forgotten the link to your source, you did mark in blue an excerpt, please do provide it.

PPS Have you ever posted a positive thread on DU, just curious?

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
53. So did you notice what the action the President is taking with this Exec Order? TRACKING
Tue Dec 2, 2014, 05:58 PM
Dec 2014

High fives all around, we will have better TRACKING. Color photos and graphs, Power Points, etc.

Was an exec order needed? I bet if he called up and asked, the military would provide better tracking at no charge.

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
57. For what? For demanding that we start " better track[ing] the weapons"? What will tracking
Wed Dec 3, 2014, 01:00 AM
Dec 2014

the weapons actually accomplish?

Cha

(295,899 posts)
28. Thank you President Obama!
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 08:52 PM
Dec 2014

At a meeting of civil rights leaders and law enforcement officials, President Obama described plans to address what he called a “simmering distrust” between police departments and people of color.
December 1, 2014.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/us/politics/obama-to-toughen-standards-on-police-use-of-military-gear.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0

Mahalo for your OP, she.. This is for Michael Brown

sheshe2

(83,319 posts)
33. Thanks Cha!
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 09:03 PM
Dec 2014

This was a great move by the President. Hmmmm, why is the GOP so quite these days? They have the House and the soon to be sworn in Senate?

PBO a lame duck. Lame duck my ass. Go Obama.

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
58. Sadly this is the Obama I voted for also. He didn't say he would do anything but "track".
Wed Dec 3, 2014, 08:52 PM
Dec 2014

"President Barack Obama ..... is asking aides to prepare an executive order that would better track the weapons and gear flowing from the federal government to local police departments around the nation."

As CIC why doesn't he stop the sales to local police entirely?

woo me with science

(32,139 posts)
42. Thank you. More corporate messaging to normalize the unconscionable.
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 09:57 PM
Dec 2014

Offering just cameras as a solution is absurd. We are continually propagandized by the corporate message machine to accept what has been done to this country as a "new normal"....

...whether it is mass surveillance, the impoverishment of our middle class and replacement of careers with with low-wage service jobs...and obscenely militarized police forces.

It's not acceptable. It's not anything that should be considered "normal" in the United States of America.

The constant stream of military equipment and training into our civilian police forces is not acceptable by any stretch of the imagination, and this constant, tacit message that we have no right to expect its actual reversal should outrage every American.

The militarization ITSELF needs to be stopped and reversed.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5896784


sheshe2

(83,319 posts)
43. Have you lobbied congress yet?
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 11:12 PM
Dec 2014

You know those do nothing pieces of shit that collect paychecks and hinder everything the President wants to do. The ones the tax payers support if we like it or not. WHEN THE HELL WILL YOU HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR ANYTHING?

The President is ruling all branches on his own by executive orders, it's all he can do and he is damn well doing a good job of getting something through. Yet you woo just sit at your keyboard and blame him day after day week after week month after month for EVERYTHING!

Never one positive word out of your mouth.

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
54. But sheshe this exec order accomplishes nothing. Zero, zilch. As CIC why doesn't he simply
Tue Dec 2, 2014, 06:00 PM
Dec 2014

order the military to stop?

woo me with science

(32,139 posts)
45. The entire Democratic leadership opposed Grayson amendment to stop arming cops with DOD weapons
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 11:18 PM
Dec 2014

The entire Democratic leadership opposed Grayson amendment to stop arming cops with DOD weapons
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025390424

kentuck

(110,950 posts)
44. Hell yes!
Mon Dec 1, 2014, 11:16 PM
Dec 2014

If they have more weapons than they know what to do with, then give them to the state national guards. I would trust them more than the local police departments with tanks, helicopters, flash grenades, and automatic weapons. What the hell are they thinking?!

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
51. Can you spell Bull Shit? This is more rhetoric. What action will be taken? More tracking?
Tue Dec 2, 2014, 05:51 PM
Dec 2014

"President Barack Obama ..... is asking aides to prepare an executive order that would better track the weapons and gear flowing from the federal government to local police departments around the nation. "

Maybe some graphs, videos, Power Points?

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