In recent years it’s become increasingly difficult for ordinary Americans to ignore the fact that their local police departments are becoming militarized. Just a couple generations ago, the police were armed with pretty much the same weapons that civilians could own. They drove vehicles that, without decals and sirens, wouldn’t be out of place at an ordinary car dealership. They wore uniforms that were comparable to clothes worn by other civilian government employees. Now they carry assault rifles, drive armored vehicles, and on occasion they wear camouflage. They look and sometimes act, just like soldiers in a warzone.
So what made our police departments so militarized? You can partly blame the Pentagon’s 1033 program, which was implemented by the National Defense Authorization Act of 1997. The program allows the Defense Logistics Agency to loan military grade weapons, equipment, and vehicles to local police departments, thus allowing them to transform into paramilitary squads on a shoe string budget.
Among the many controversial issues with this program, is just how easy it is for police departments to receive this gear. In fact, it’s so easy that you don’t even really need to represent a law enforcement agency to participate in the program. Legally you do, but not practically.
That’s because the Defense Logistics Agency doesn’t vet the organizations who ask for this gear at all.
That’s according to a new Government Accountability Office report. The government auditing agency created a fake website of a fake police department and applied for the surplus goods. The fake agency was handed $1.2 million in weapons, including night-vision goggles, simulated rifles, and simulated pipe bombs. The simulated rifles and pipe bombs could have been turned into “potentially lethal items if modified with commercially available items,” according to the report. Simulated weapons are used for training purposes.
The GAO even used a fake physical address—a dirt lot—for the fake law enforcement agency. According to Zina Merritt, a GAO director who coordinated the investigation, this sting operation of sorts found that the DLA did little to verify who was requesting the military leftovers and who was actually picking up the gear.
According to the GAO, the Defense Logistics Agency was ready to deliver these weapons, despite the fact that they never called the fake police agency to confirm any information, never visited the delivery location, and never asked for any identification. And to top it all off, the GAO received more items than they requested.
The great irony in all of this, is that other government agencies take great care to ensure that you, a law abiding civilian, can’t obtain military weapons. The process for buying a fully automatic firearm is insanely expensive and prohibitive. To obtain any other kind of military weapon is no walk in the park either, or is otherwise completely illegal.
And yet, under different circumstances, our incompetent government will hand out millions of dollars worth of weaponry like it’s candy. The next time someone suggests to you that there are certain weapons which can only be trusted in the hands of government defense agencies, you can remind them that their notion is provably false.
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No thanks, I have too many already.
All I wanna know is
Is this still going on?
And if so , where do I get mine?
Kind of makes you wonder just how many “fake police departments” the CIA set up to get gear like this.
LOL, did you say that one to yourself before posting it?
LOL, the CIA already has far better tech and they don’t need to beg for the this leftovers garabage.
never took any accounting classes did you? its not about the weapons necessarily, its about the books…always about the money and how its recorded.
Now that’s funny I don’t care who you are!
Realsville PD here applying for an MRAP, some grenades and launchers, some real guns, and a crap-load of ammo. Just send it to the “chief’s” home address.
“They look and sometimes act, just like soldiers in a war zone.” Apparently Mr. Lang hasn’t heard of Chicago, LA, Baltimore, Cincinnati, et al. Mayberry is vanishing in our country. If my local police officer has to face multiple federally subsidized and entitled thugs, I want the officer to be armed like robocop. And better the equipment in the hands of local pd’s than the “fast and furious” genius who puts them in the hands of foreign thugs.
And as far as government accountability goes, Nancy Pelosi said it best, “We’re Congress , we can do whatever we want to do.” And that that completes the circle.
Agreed, police departments too militarized.
But, they are as armed as much of the public is.
The public is too militarized.
Creates opportunity for a clash based on fear and apprehension.
The PUBLIC is “too militarized”? Are you fucking retarded, or a paid shill? When was the last time you saw “Joe Public & friends” driving down the street in an MRAP, with grenade launchers, full-auto rifles, tactical body armor and night vision goggles? And just for fun? If anything the PUBLIC doesn’t have access to enough! After all, WE are the ones that pay for that shit via money being forcefully stolen from us in the form of TAXES.
Many Police Depts across the country that have confiscated guns and weapons from the Public through asset forfeiture programs, have then taken those weapons and sold them for personal profit to others for personal gain. One cop on another prepper website told how many knives he has taken from the public through frisking, and complained that, “It took him a long time to sharpen them at home, because they were really dull.” Like How about just tell the world you are a “Thief Pig Cop.” Besides the knives, what else have you stolen from the public. I had a Cop take off a Swiss Army Knife off my keychain and I never got it back. And another time a Cop stole about $80 in cash off of me in a traffic stop. Cops are thieves and should lose their jobs and be locked up.
Cops that also find stolen goods, do not ever try to find the real owner and put the goods in their storage, and then yearly hold public auctions to raise money for their own dept. Cops, aka: Revenue Raisers are thieves, anyway you look at it.
Every hear that saying, “Cops got the best Dope”
The urban myth that we need to be solidly behind the Police (Blue lives Matter), but they certainly DO NOT POLICE their own..(the institutionalized corruption of “Thin Blue Line”) and all those Blue and black stickers you see on the back of vehicles these days.. the subtle sign as to HOW corrupt the who “I am not of you in the public” signal to other cops and LEO families that signals “professional” courtesy.. Yes, that is what those stickers mean.
Justice for some, but certainly NOT all…
In the future though
Those stickers could become targets
You couldn’t pay me to put one on any car or truck I own
Doesn’t surprise me after all you aren’t capable of making good desisiones and the gov is that’s why they need to be your guardian.
Never underestimate the power of GOVERNMENT to do the wrong thing and reflect its INCOMPETENCE 9which isn’t really incompetence, but a clever disguise for (CORRUPTION)..
This is story is no surprise at all. It is business as usual.
augh man. that sucks. I can’t find the paper work that you have to submit for the gear. My “department” could use some gear.
MWK, yup, we all could use more gear. I could use some night vision gear.
All the DLA had to do was use google earth to look at the vacant lot. Duh!
Check out, New Nation News. See the faces of these soon to be exterminated rats.
“Asset forfeiture” is just outright theft. The seizure of money from bank accounts or property should require court action and only on proper grounds. What happened to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (property)”? That also applies to the state taking money from an inactive bank account. Theft is theft!
Brian, if anyone tries that forfeiture crap on me they’ll have a fight on their hands.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are natural rights, not personal rights, and are therefore belong to people but not to persons. But of course the state deals with people as if they were persons.
busted
wow!
I wouldn’t mind having that AR-15 in the picture above with 20-30 mags and a truckload of ammo.
ok, but never forget that while shooting that truckload of ammo……there JUST MIGHT be people SHOOTING back YOUR way…………
BCOD, I NEVER shoot first. If/when I’m shot at, I’ll damn sure return the fire in self-defense.
you missed my point….if you have a truckload of ammo you are shooting…..you WILL be shot back at….and you’ll be dead after just a few of those magazines are expended…..unless you have brain-dead leftists shooting at you….meh,…maybe you WILL make it through a truckload…..strager things have happened.
AR-15, AK-47, either just send them and mags. I do expect people to be shooting at me. I’d be disappointed if they didn’t. I’m the shoot first and don’t stop until they aren’t moving anymore kind.That’s how we all were in Afghanistan. When SHTF here do you expect peace?
The Him Township Police Department really needs an armored fighting vehicle.
This fits in here. I read the top statement at whatreallyhappened.com stating that if Americans don’t give up their guns and relinquish their sovereignty to the new world order, then expect a biological or nuclear attack on a major American city… I’m sure there are many at the top who would be fine with that multiplied into multiple cities.
Looking at my best AR. 16 inch 3/4 diameter barrel, tridgicon 0 power yellow triangle or 6/20 leapold. Opened trigger guard for gloves cold. Collapsing stock with reinforcement band at threads. 1 inch groups at 100 with the cheapest junk ammo. Olympic arms frame, Young bolt. Two stage trigger . I think a guy from Rocksprings Wy. built it. Sold to me in 2001 for 1400$. I’ll never forget the guy.
Aljamo, the elitists’ stated goal is to reduce 90% of the world’s population. Sounds like all of the elitists need to be eliminated.
Is it in bad taste to get targets with Police silhouettes? considering they are using women and children to target shoot…
Time to start a police dept.
And don’t forget. The Mexican drug cartels got tens of millions of US dollars worth of FREE AR-15s from our dear, former leader, Barack Hussein Obama.
God knows, the Mexican drug lords are suffering from a lack on wanton massacre-ing, father killing, mother killing, and child killing. [sarcasm]
Still, the prize for being the biggest gun crazy on the plant goes to the U.S. Government — the biggest mother killers of all time. Yes, sir! God Bless America! Giving endless war and mothering killing a good name.