Indiana appears to be the trial balloon for the militarization of American Law Enforcement the state has been authorized to purchase military surplus helicopters, armored vehicles and M16 attack rifles. Police representatives have said that the militarization of local police is partly to deal with returning veterans who are now seen as a homegrown terror threat, they are coming out of the military with the knowledge to build IED's and defeat law enforcement techniques. Police authorities indicate that this equipment can also be used for homeland security missions.
The claim that armored tanks are necessary to deal with violent crime doesn't jive with statistics that violent crime, with a few exceptions such as Chicago, is in fact on the decrease.
What I find very disturbing is a U.S. directive issued in December of 2010, authorizing full use of federal power to deal with domestic situations involving federal properties, functions and domestic civil disorder. Basically this means that government is authorized to use powerful sophisticated weaponry against Americans.
This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.
The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?
