Now that President Obama has declared an end to America’s ‘long season of war’ police stations across the country are being given equipment that is no longer needed by the US military.
Now that President Obama has declared an end to America’s ‘long season of war’ police stations across the country are being given equipment that is no longer needed by the US military.
Armored vehicles, aircraft, machine guns, and night-vision apparatus are just a few of the items that have been passed along.
Many are happy to take the pricey machinery off of the US government’s hands for the cost of delivery. Johnson County, Indiana got a three-quarter of a million dollar mine-proof truck for 5 thousand dollars.
The sheriff of Morgan County who also got one admits a tank-like vehicle wasn’t their first choice, but they couldn’t afford the one they wanted. Given their budget, military surplus is by far their best option.
Increasingly, citizens are voicing concerns that their cities are starting to look like heavily armed police states, and that combat equipment really isn’t needed in their communities.
Said one man from Neenah, Wisconsin, population 25 thousand, “It just seems like ramping up a police department for a problem we don’t have. This is not what I was looking for when I moved here...”
