Police with Military Equipment

Police departments will now have access to military surplus equipment typically used in warfare, including grenade launchers, armored vehicles and bayonets, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on Monday, describing it as “lifesaving gear.”

Restoring the program will "ensure that you can get the lifesaving gear that you need to do your job," Attorney General Jeff Sessions told a cheering crowd at a national convention of the Fraternal Order of Police in Nashville, Tennessee. The group, America's largest organization of rank-and-file officers, endorsed Trump for president after he promised to revamp the program.

"Tensions between law enforcement and communities remain high, yet the president and the attorney general are giving the police military-grade weaponry instead of practical, effective ways to protect and serve everyone," said Kanya Bennett, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky called the plan a dangerous expansion of government power that would "subsidize militarization." Another Republican, Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, said the program "incentivizes the militarization of local police departments, as they are encouraged to grab more equipment than they need."

A New York Post review of the federal program in December 2014 found that New York state greatly benefited from the supplies. Law enforcement agencies throughout the state hauled in nearly 4,000 pieces of surplus military equipment valued at more than $26 million.

This issue of police gaining military equipment could either be a pro or con and could result in many benefits.

The move rescinds limits on the Pentagon handouts that were put in place by President Barack Obama in 2015 amid a national debate over policing touched off by a spate of high-profile deaths of black men at the hands of the police, including the shooting death in 2014 of 18-year-old Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Mo., by a white officer. Some local residents viewed police use of military equipment during the ensuing protests as an unnecessary show of force and intimidation.

Links To Sources:

• http://nypost.com/2017/08/27/trump-wants-to-lift-ban-on-giving-military-equipment-to-police
• https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/us/politics/trump-police-military-surplus-equipment.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FUnited%20States%20Politics%20and%20Government&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=collection

Questions of Consideration:

• Do you think that this decision is unnecessary? Why or Why not?

• Do you believe that this is a pro or con? Explain

• What benefits would you consider to come out this decision?