Overhaul: Program that gives military gear to local cops

(Washington Examiner) The Defense Department is overhauling the program that gives surplus military equipment to local police departments — but there is good reason to keep it going, Pentagon officials and representatives of national law enforcement groups told lawmakers on Thursday.

The transfer of surplus military equipment to local police departments had little impact on the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., after the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a police officer on Aug. 9.

Police departments are acquiring major battlefield equipment that emboldens officials to strong-arm those they should be protecting. “Police State USA: How Orwell’s Nightmare is Becoming our Reality” (Autographed) chronicles how we got to this point.

But images of heavily armed police amid the protests that followed was very much on the minds of members of a House Armed Services subcommittee looking into the issue.