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Obama Takes Bayonets Away From Cops

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In a bid to foster trust between communities and local police departments, the White House said Monday that it is restricting the flow of certain types of military hardware from the Pentagon to state and local governments.

The administration announced that tracked armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft, greater-than .50-caliber ammunition, grenade launchers, bayonets, and camouflaged uniforms will stop being granted, from federal department to cops around the country.

Equipment transfer programs run out of the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Defense were put under review by President Obama last August following the heavily militarized response by local law enforcement officials in Ferguson, Missouri to demonstrations against police brutality and systemic racism. The sight of police in camouflage and tanks with high-powered rifles further raised tensions in the town, which had already reached a fevered pitch after Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed an unarmed teenager Michael Brown, in broad daylight, in the middle of a street.

The review concluded that a prohibition on such equipment is “appropriate” due to the “risk of misusing or overusing these items.” It added that the hardware is “seen as militaristic in nature,” which may “encourage tactics and behaviors that are inconsistent with the premise of civilian law enforcement.”

A number of other types of military equipment will still be allowed, but only with restrictions. The oversight measures, which were also revealed Monday, force police departments to submit detailed justification reports before acquiring drones, various types of riot gear, and armored and tactical units like mine-resistant vehicles (MRAPs).

The rules also may add to cops’ paperwork in other instances. Under the regulations, police will have to report any “significant incidents” that involve ex-military equipment, including any time it is deployed during a “public exercise of First Amendment rights, or when used during a “violent encounter” between civilians and police.

The working group is also recommending that the executive branch require police to receive consent from elected local officials before taking on surplus military equipment, and that better training and oversight mechanisms be implemented. The White House said it intends to implement these suggestions.

During a congressional hearing last September, officials from the three government agencies that oversee the equipment transfers testified that they currently don’t offer—and aren’t in a position to offer—training for officers who want to use MRAPs and grenade launchers.

The witnesses were also unable to give specifics on remedial actions available to them if law enforcement agencies are caught misusing the equipment. One witness, FEMA Administrator Brian Kamoie, said, without offering any sort of specifics, that there is a “range of remedies available to us should there be any finding of non-compliance” by local police.

The group empaneled by President Obama recommended that the administration stop police departments proven to be abusive “from acquiring additional controlled equipment” for at least 60 days, until the federal government can verify that “that the violation has been corrected.”

Last year’s hearing on police militarization also featured an incensed Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who used his time for questioning to skewer government witnesses on why local cops were being given bayonets by federal agencies.

In its review, the working group validated Sen. Paul’s concerns, noting that bayonets are “incompatible with the concept of civilian law enforcement.”

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