Local Cops Ready for War With Homeland Security-Funded Military Weapons
Breaking News, Liberty Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
By Andrew Becker, The Daily Beast
Nestled amid plains so flat the locals joke you can watch your dog run away for miles, Fargo treasures its placid lifestyle, seldom pierced by the mayhem and violence common in other urban communities. North Dakota’s largest city has averaged fewer than two homicides a year since 2005, and there’s not been a single international terrorism prosecution in the last decade.
But that hasn’t stopped authorities in Fargo and its surrounding county from going on an $8 million buying spree to arm police officers with the sort of gear once reserved only for soldiers fighting foreign wars.
Every city squad car is equipped today with a military-style assault rifle, and officers can don Kevlar helmets able to withstand incoming fire from battlefield-grade ammunition. And for that epic confrontation—if it ever occurs—officers can now summon a new $256,643 armored truck, complete with a rotating turret. For now, though, the menacing truck is used mostly for training and appearances at the annual city picnic, where it’s been parked near the children’s bounce house.
“Most people are so fascinated by it, because nothing happens here,” says Carol Archbold, a Fargo resident and criminal justice professor at North Dakota State University. “There’s no terrorism here.”
Like Fargo, thousands of other local police departments nationwide have been amassing stockpiles of military-style equipment in the name of homeland security, aided by more than $34 billion in federal grants since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a Daily Beast investigation conducted by the Center for Investigative Reporting has found.
To read more, visit: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/20/local-cops-ready-for-war-with-homeland-security-funded-military-weapons.html
Short URL: https://reteaparty.com/?p=5099
They will be seeing that fancy equipment coming through their own front doors some day !
Hopefully the police officers will be oath keepers
That’s what they’ve built the camps for…us.
yep… police state begins.
Well I do remember one military officer looking a Senator in the eyes and saying, “I took an oath to defed the U.S. constitution against ALL enemies, foreign and domestic, Senator”. I got the distinct impression he meant THAT Senator.
I’m not sure what oath cops take, but will they imprison and shoot their own dads, moms, brothers and sisters? One would certainly hope not.
I have seen military vs cop battles in Brasil – guess who lost!