Local American forces are becoming militarized with battle tested soldier gear.  The latest is an 18 ton armor protected military fighting vehicle (not a transport vehicle).  Police say this will help better ‘serve and protect’ – but there have already been cases of abuse, with some selling the gear on ebay, and others letting their friends use.  From Foxx News:

From war zones to city streets, some military vehicles are getting a new life — and not everyone is happy about the recycling.

The Defense Department recently announced it would be giving domestic law enforcement forces hulking vehicles designed to efficiently maneuver in a war zone for use in thwarting any potential high-scale activity.

This did not sit well with those who see a troubling trend: the militarization of local police departments, including the American Civil Liberties Union, which has criticized the Defense Department for giving 18-ton, $500,000 armor-protected military fighting vehicles to local forces.

Ohio State University campus police got one vehicle, saying they would use it in large-scale emergencies and to provide a police presence on football game days. Others went to police in High Springs, Fla., and the sheriff’s office in Dallas County, Texas.

In New York, the Albany County sheriff’s department already had four smaller military-surplus Humvees, which have been used for storm evacuations and to pull trees out of roadways. Their new Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle will go into service after technicians remove the gun turret and change the paint from military sand to civilian black.

Sheriff Craig Apple rejected the idea that the nation’s police forces are becoming too militaristic.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “Our problem is we have to make sure we are prepared to respond to every type of crisis.”

To be sure, there has been some concerns raised in the past.

Radley Balko, the author of “The Rise of the Warrior Cop,” argues that the police mind set in the country is to be like a soldier.

“Instead of bringing soldiers in to do domestic law enforcement, we have allowed, and even encouraged, police officers to basically be armed like, police like, use the tactics of, be dressed like and adopt the mind set of these soldiers,” he said at a CSPAN forum last summer. “And the outcome is just as troubling, I think, as if the military were actually doing domestic police themselves.”

Further Reading

Militarization of Police | American Civil Liberties Union

How Cops Became Soldiers: An Interview with Police Militarization Expert Radley Balko | Motherboard

Column: The militarization of U.S. police forces – Yahoo News