The Militarization Of America’s Police: Despite Obama Promises, War-Weapon Spending Soared In 2014/15

• The Militarization Of America’s Police: Despite Obama Promises, War-Weapon Spending Soared In 2014/15
  by Tyler Durden, www.zerohedge.com  
  The militarization of America’s police has been a topic of concern for years (most openly since The Boston Marathon bombing in 2013) but reached a crescendo in 2014 amid Ferguson’s riots when the average joe was exposed to MRAPs up close and personal. In October 2014, President Obama began planning to increase funding for military equipment transfers to the police, but then in May 2015, he flip-flopped – proclaiming his goal to de-militarize the police. However, this was another lie. As Forbes reports,despite Obama’s pledge to demilitarize the police new federal data shows that 2014 and 2015 were peak years for shipments of surplus military gear to local police departments across America.
  –
  As we detailed previously, there is no doubt that the American police force has been drastically militarized… (chart top of post)
  –
  And now we find out that despite public outcry and Obama’s populist comments on de-militarization, as Forbes details, the militarization actually accelerated…
  –
  This week our organization released the study, OpenTheBooks Snapshot Report – The Militarization of Local Police Departments that quantified the transfer of 1.5 million weapons-related items from the Department of Defense (DoD) to federal, state and local law enforcement since 2006.  New federal records show police agencies in Florida, Texas, California, Tennessee, and Arizona led the nation in procuring surplus military-weaponry from the DoD over the last ten years.
  –
  read more.

end