If anything good has come from Ferguson, it’s that we’ve all realized our police departments possess enough military-style equipment to take on an entire friggin’ continent like, possibly, this one.
According to the fine folks at the New York Times, under President Obama – who recently applauded the end of America’s longest-standing foreign occupation – “the the former tools of combat … are ending up in local police departments, often with little public notice.” (We’ve written before about the surplus of surveillance equipment making its way into the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.)
We’re lucky in Mecklenburg County; we’ve only received 76 assault rifles and six shotguns. Gaston County has received 230 assault rifles, 54 pistols, 10 grenade launchers, six shotguns and two armored vehicles. Wake County, in addition to receiving different amounts of all of the above, has received 10 helicopters.
So no, that cop isn’t just “happy to see you”: That’s just his brand-new grenade launcher.
This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2014.
I am a retired police lieutenant and I think it’s disgusting the way our police departments are evolving.