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United States News Title: Obama to Limit Military-Style Equipment for Police Forces Obama to Limit Military-Style Equipment for Police Forces By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVISMAY 18, 2015 WASHINGTON President Obama on Monday will ban the federal provision of some types of military-style equipment to local police departments and sharply restrict the availability of others, administration officials said. The ban is part of Mr. Obamas push to ease tensions between law enforcement and minority communities in reaction to the crises in Baltimore; Ferguson, Mo.; and other cities. He is taking the action after a task force he created in January decided that police departments should be barred from using federal funds to acquire items that include tracked armored vehicles, the highest-caliber firearms and ammunition, and camouflage uniforms. The ban is part of a series of steps the president has made to try to build trust between law enforcement organizations and the citizens they are charged with protecting. Mr. Obama planned to promote the effort on Monday during a visit to Camden, N.J. The city, racked by poverty and crime, has become a national model for better relations between the police and citizens after replacing its beleaguered police force with a county-run system that prioritizes community ties. Mr. Obama is expected to hold up Camden as a counterpoint to places like Ferguson, where the killing of a young black man by a white police officer last summer and the violent protests that followed exposed long-simmering hostility between law enforcement agencies and minorities in cities around the country. The trip and the action on military-style equipment are to coincide with the release on Monday of a report from a policing task force that Mr. Obama formed late last year in response to the crisis in Ferguson. The 116-page report calls for law enforcement agencies to embrace a guardian rather than a warrior mind-set to build trust and legitimacy both within agencies and with the public. It contains dozens of recommendations for agencies throughout the country. We are, without a doubt, sitting at a defining moment in American policing, Ronald L. Davis, the director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services at the Department of Justice, told reporters in a conference call organized by the White House. We have a unique opportunity to redefine policing in our democracy, to ensure that public safety becomes more than the absence of crime, but it must also include a presence for justice. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the federal government sharply expanded its efforts to provide police departments with automatic weapons, armored vehicles and other military-style gear through grant programs at the Homeland Security and Justice Departments and transfers from the Defense Department. The programs have enjoyed widespread popularity among lawmakers eager to take steps to protect their communities and constantly in search of ways to steer federal money to their districts and states. The report from the task force on military equipment cited the police response to the Ferguson unrest as an example of how the militarization of police departments can lead to fear and mistrust. In addition to prohibiting some equipment outright, officials said, Mr. Obama accepted the groups recommendation to impose new restrictions on other military-style items, such as wheeled armored vehicles, pyrotechnics, battering rams and riot gear, and more stringent requirements for training and information collection for departments that acquire them. The idea is to make sure that we strike a balance in providing the equipment, which is appropriate and useful and important for local law enforcement agencies to keep the community safe, while at the same time putting standards in place, said Cecilia Muñoz, the director of Mr. Obamas Domestic Policy Council. The report to be released on Monday represents a two-pronged response to a problem that has emerged as a central predicament for Mr. Obama in recent months. He has struggled to acknowledge the sense of fear, grievance and victimization by the police that dominates many minority communities without seeming to forgive violence or condemn law enforcement with a broad brush. In doing so, he is grappling with the limits of his power to force changes in police departments around the country, where practices and procedures are varied and the federal governments ability to influence change can be minimal. The equipment task force stems from an executive order, and its conclusions affect only the material supplied by the federal government, while the policing recommendations are merely a blueprint for what Mr. Obama would like to see happen in jurisdictions throughout the country. Mr. Obama on Monday will announce $163 million in grants to encourage police departments to adopt the suggestions. The administration also will launch a tool kit for the use of body-worn cameras; the Justice Department created a grant program for law enforcement agencies to purchase them. Ms. Muñoz said the task forces report was not just a blueprint for us and for local law enforcement agencies, but also for community leaders and others and stakeholders, giving them some very specific things to be asking for and, frankly, insisting on in order to improve policing practices. That is why Mr. Obama made plans to visit Camden, where he wants to highlight a policing model that emphasizes a collaborative approach. Camden is also one of 20 cities participating in a new White House initiative to enhance the use of police data, by releasing detailed information on such things as traffic stops, officer-involved shootings and the use of force.
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#1. To: CZ82, TooConservative (#0)
I have no basis in statistics but it seems to me that after the police switched over from revolvers to semi-automatic pistols the number of killings went up. I think we see a lot of cases where cops just offload their entire clip at a person because I assume in the heat of battle the trigger is itchy. But with the revolver it takes time and thought to shoot off a second round.
It sure does require some thought. However, a revolver in a shoot out with cartel gang members with semi and automatic weapons is one sided. That is why many police departments many moons ago went to the .45, 9mm and 10mm pistols. The key is training and discipline. For example in the military they go through scenarios where they drill escalation of force in a populated area. I know the local police dept and the Texas DPS do similar exercises and training.
Outside of the LA bank robbery from the 90s we have yet to see these Hollywoodesque shootouts. There was this really great movie staring the dad from Growing Pains (Gross was his last name) and the Starsky And Hutch acter (Soul?) who played bank robbers that FBI were targeting and that ended in a shoot out scene - real great TV movie. But those cases are few and far between. In any case, if we have Cartel action - that is the purpose of SWAT and not beat patrol flat foots to take on.
The old 'flat foot' needs to be prepared. Needs to be able to protect himself and those citizens around him until the SWAT shows up. Again, it is not the type of weapon that is causing these problems. It is discipline and training. Outside of the LA bank robbery from the 90s we have yet to see these Hollywoodesque shootouts. Cartel shootout with police in Houston Mexican Cartels Publicly Threaten To Kill American Cops In El Paso Just to name a few. Maybe some folks who live closer to the US-Mexico border can elaborate on their local news.
You would think Gatlin could comment on the border happenings considering where he lives, but don't remember him ever posting about that.
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