Military surplus to local police depts? Maybe not!

Here's a coincidence!

From Homeland Security News Wire:

Lawmakers reconsider transfer of military gear to local police

19 August 2014

Federal officials are considering placing restrictions on the 1990 Department of Defense Excess Property (1033) Program which authorized the Pentagon to give surplus military equipment to local law enforcement units to fight the war on drugs. The program was later explained as also helping in the fight against terrorism. Though violent crime nationwide is at its lowest levels in decades, the transfers of military equipment to police forces have surged...

[...]

Though violent crime nationwide is at its lowest levels in decades, the transfers of military equipment to police forces have surged. A June 2014 report by the American Civil Liberties Union found that weapons transferred through the 1,033 program rose in value from $1 million in 1990 to nearly $450 million in 2013. “Every police force of any size in this country has access to those kinds of weapons now,” said David Harris, a police expert at the University of Pittsburgh law school. “It makes it more likely to be used (and) is an escalation all by itself.”...

 Much more here.