The
shooting of Michael Brown has revived debates about race and policing in the
US. Not just over the killing – but the response to the protests that followed,
and what’s being called the "militarization" of the police.
The civil
rights legend John Lewis expressed what many Americans were thinking.
"This is not China or Russia or the Congo. This is America." His
statement came after Wednesday night's turmoil in Ferguson, when the streets of
the Missouri town were transformed into a conflict zone.
It wasn't
just the tear gas, smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails that proved shocking. It
was the sight of armored vehicles on American streets, surrounded by officers
armed so heavily they looked like they were going to war.
Barack
Obama interrupted his vacation to call for calm. Attorney General Eric Holder –
leading the White House's response to the situation – said, "At a time
when we must seek to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the local
community, I am deeply concerned that the deployment of military equipment and
vehicles sends a conflicting message."
'Small
Armies'
 |
| The shooting of teenager Michael Brown triggered days of protests and riots in Ferguson |
It's a
concern that has been echoed across the political divide. "We need to
de-militarize the situation," said Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, a
Democrat.
"Washington
has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal
dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small
armies," wrote Republican Senator Rand Paul in Time Magazine.
At the
heart of this process of "militarization" is a Pentagon program that
has channeled billions of dollars worth of surplus weapons, vehicles and even
aircraft from the military to law enforcement agencies all over the US –
virtually free of charge. Its name is Program 1033.
Program 1033
Run by the
Defense Logistics Agency, the program has its roots in the early 1990s, as a
means of providing local agencies with equipment for use in the "war on
drugs." It was expanded later in the decade and is now subject to
"few limitations and requirements" according to the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU).
The
program's website hails its own scope: "If your law enforcement agency
chooses to participate, it may become one of the more than 8,000 participating
agencies to increase its capabilities, expand its patrol coverage, reduce
response times, and save the American taxpayer's investment." And with US
combat forces now long out of Iraq and soon leaving Afghanistan – there is a
lot of surplus equipment going for free.
 |
Small town police force?
|
The
incentive to militarize
From M16
rifles to Mine-Resistant Ambush Protection Vehicles (MRAPs) – there's plenty on
offer for cash-strapped police forces. And they only have to pay the cost of
delivery and maintenance.
There is
even an incentive to put their new equipment to use – and fast. The ACLU
highlights a clause in the Memoranda of Agreements between states and the DLA
requiring the recipient to "utilize property within one year or schedule
its return."
The ACLU
says Program 1033 is encouraging not just escalation on the streets of Ferguson
but countless SWAT team deployments that never go reported: forms of
"militarization" that disproportionately target the black community.
Congressman
Henry Johnson says it is time to end this process. He has drafted a "Stop
Militarizing Law Enforcement Act," which he says will "end the free
transfers of certain aggressive military equipment to local law
enforcement." His spokesman told DW that the bill does not seek to scrap
Program 1033 altogether. But he said it would limit the types of weapons on
offer – as well as boosting accountability.
Ferguson
regroups
Back in
Ferguson, the police response demilitarized dramatically on Thursday night
after Governor Jay Nixon weighed in. But there is no sign the equipment seen on
the suburb's streets will be returned to sender.
DW asked
the spokesman for Missouri's Department of Public Safety if the police would
ever have been able to afford – or even obtain – such gear without access to
government programs like 1033. He would only say that Missouri was no special
case: "This is a national program available right across America."
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