Social Uprooting

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occupyallstreets: Small-Town Cops Pile Up on Useless Military Gear Small police departments across America are collecting battlefield-grade arsenals thanks to a program that allows them to get their hands on military surplus equipment – amphibious tanks, night-vision goggles, and even barber chairs or underwear – at virtually no cost, except for shipment and maintenance. Over the last five years, the top 10 beneficiaries of this “Department of Defense Excess Property Program” included small agencies such as the Fairmount Police Department. It serves 7,000 people in northern Georgia and received 17,145 items from the military. The cops in Issaquah, Washington, a town of 30,000 people, acquired more than 37,000 pieces of gear. In 2011 alone, more than 700,000 items were transferred to police departments for a total value of $500 million. This year, as of May 15, police departments already acquired almost $400 million worth of stuff. Last year’s record would have certainly been shattered if the Arizona Republic hadn’t revealed in early May that a local police department used the program to stockpile equipment – and then sold the gear to others, something that is strictly forbidden. Three weeks after the revelation, the Pentagon decided to partly suspend distribution of surplus material until all agencies could put together an up-to-date inventory of all the stuff they got through the years. A second effort, which gives federal grants to police departments to purchase equipment, is still ongoing, however. According to the Center for Investigative Reporting, since 9/11, the grants have totaled $34 billion. Which means billions of dollars’ worth of military gear are in the hands of small-town cops who neither need the equipment nor are properly trained to use it, critics charge. At best, it’s a waste of resources (since the gear still has to be maintained). At worst, it could cost lives. Take the 50-officer police department in Oxford, Alabama, a town of 20,000 people. It has stockpiled around $3 million of equipment, ranging from M-16s and helmet-mounted infrared goggles to its own armored vehicle, a Puma. In Tupelo, Mississippi, home to 35,000, the local police acquired a helicopter for only $7,500 through the surplus program. The chopper, however, had to be upgraded for $100,000 and it now costs $20,000 a year in maintenance. The Nebraska State Patrol has three amphibious eight-wheeled tanks. Acquired almost three years ago, their highest achievement has been helping with a flood last year and with a shooting a couple of weeks ago. Overall, it has been deployed five times. At least, officers love driving them. “They’re fun,” said trooper Art Frerichs to the Lincoln Journal Star in 2010. And the ride, according to Patrol Sgt. Loveless, “is very smooth.” I’m so glad they’re having fun. :) 

occupyallstreets:

Small-Town Cops Pile Up on Useless Military Gear

Small police departments across America are collecting battlefield-grade arsenals thanks to a program that allows them to get their hands on military surplus equipment – amphibious tanks, night-vision goggles, and even barber chairs or underwear – at virtually no cost, except for shipment and maintenance.

Over the last five years, the top 10 beneficiaries of this “Department of Defense Excess Property Program” included small agencies such as the Fairmount Police Department. It serves 7,000 people in northern Georgia and received 17,145 items from the military. The cops in Issaquah, Washington, a town of 30,000 people, acquired more than 37,000 pieces of gear.

In 2011 alone, more than 700,000 items were transferred to police departments for a total value of $500 million. This year, as of May 15, police departments already acquired almost $400 million worth of stuff. Last year’s record would have certainly been shattered if the Arizona Republic hadn’t revealed in early May that a local police department used the program to stockpile equipment – and then sold the gear to others, something that is strictly forbidden. Three weeks after the revelation, the Pentagon decided to partly suspend distribution of surplus material until all agencies could put together an up-to-date inventory of all the stuff they got through the years. A second effort, which gives federal grants to police departments to purchase equipment, is still ongoing, however. According to the Center for Investigative Reporting, since 9/11, the grants have totaled $34 billion.

Which means billions of dollars’ worth of military gear are in the hands of small-town cops who neither need the equipment nor are properly trained to use it, critics charge. At best, it’s a waste of resources (since the gear still has to be maintained). At worst, it could cost lives.

Take the 50-officer police department in Oxford, Alabama, a town of 20,000 people. It has stockpiled around $3 million of equipment, ranging from M-16s and helmet-mounted infrared goggles to its own armored vehicle, a Puma. In Tupelo, Mississippi, home to 35,000, the local police acquired a helicopter for only $7,500 through the surplus program. The chopper, however, had to be upgraded for $100,000 and it now costs $20,000 a year in maintenance.

The Nebraska State Patrol has three amphibious eight-wheeled tanks. Acquired almost three years ago, their highest achievement has been helping with a flood last year and with a shooting a couple of weeks ago. Overall, it has been deployed five times. At least, officers love driving them. “They’re fun,” said trooper Art Frerichs to the Lincoln Journal Star in 2010. And the ride, according to Patrol Sgt. Loveless, “is very smooth.”

I’m so glad they’re having fun. :) 

(via anarcho-queer)

Reblogged from Ⓐnarcho Queer

Big Banks And Police Working Together To Monitor Occupy As May Day Protest Looms

occupyallstreets:

The world’s biggest banks are working with one another and police to gather intelligence as protesters try to rejuvenate the Occupy Wall Street movement with May demonstrations, industry security consultants said.

Among 99 protest targets in midtown Manhattan on May 1 are Chase and Bank of America offices, said Marisa Holmes, a member of Occupy’s May Day planning committee. Events are scheduled for more than 115 cities, including an effort to shut down the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, where Wells Fargo investors relied on police to get past protests at their annual meeting this week.

“Our goal is to kick off the spring offensive and go directly to where the financial elite play and plan,” she said.

Read More

(via anarcho-queer)

Reblogged from Ⓐnarcho Queer

Why can’t you smoke pot? Because lobbyists are Getting rich off of the war on drugs

cocaincadence:

John Lovell is a lobbyist who makes a lot of money from making sure you can’t smoke a joint. That’s his job. He’s a lobbyist for the police unions in Sacramento, and he is a driving force behind grabbing Federal dollars to shut down the California marijuana industry. I’ll get to the evidence on this important story in a bit, but first, some context.

At some point in the distant past, the war on drugs might have been popular. But not anymore — the polling is clear, but beyond that, the last three Presidents have used illegal drugs. So why do we still put hundreds of thousands of people in steel cages for pot-related offenses? Well, there are many reasons, but one of them is, of course, money in politics. Corruption. Whatever you want to call it, it’s why you can’t smoke a joint without committing a crime, though of course you can ingest any number of pills or drinks completely within the law…

Good thing pot is decriminalized under an ounce in Massachusetts, you just have to pay a 100$ fine and a bill for medical marijuana will be introduced this year as well. 

Reblogged from Te Kallisti

noneofthismatters: Paramilitary Policing Begins Fearing the rebellious peaceful hordes of Occupy, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel has granted the city’s police force emergency purchasing power to suit-up for NATO and G8 meetings this May. Top of the list: 3000 new riot face shields worth $200,000. These face shields are said to be better than existing ones because they fit easier over top of gas masks and seal directly to the forehead of the helmet, preventing liquids from passing through. “Rioters known to attend NATO and G8 meetings have been known to throw bags of urine and bags of feces at police. Chicago Police officers need a shield that can adapt to what is being thrown at them, ” Fraternal Order of Police President Mike Shields told the Chicago Sun Times. In a city already strapped for cash for social programs, the move comes as a surprise to citizens and protestors alike. Aaron Cynic of Chicagoist.com writes: To our knowledge, no protesters plan on bringing any kind of scatological materials to the demonstrations in May. Furthermore, while cursory searching found plenty of speculation, rumor and hyperbole about such instances, we have yet to find any actual hard evidence outside of commentary. To the contrary, a civil liberties advocate told an independent news website in December: “This is part of a spectrum of information war strategies that the state uses to repress dissent.”

noneofthismatters:

Paramilitary Policing Begins

Fearing the rebellious peaceful hordes of Occupy, Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel has granted the city’s police force emergency purchasing power to suit-up for NATO and G8 meetings this May. Top of the list: 3000 new riot face shields worth $200,000. These face shields are said to be better than existing ones because they fit easier over top of gas masks and seal directly to the forehead of the helmet, preventing liquids from passing through.

“Rioters known to attend NATO and G8 meetings have been known to throw bags of urine and bags of feces at police. Chicago Police officers need a shield that can adapt to what is being thrown at them, ” Fraternal Order of Police President Mike Shields told the Chicago Sun Times.

In a city already strapped for cash for social programs, the move comes as a surprise to citizens and protestors alike.

Aaron Cynic of Chicagoist.com writes:

To our knowledge, no protesters plan on bringing any kind of scatological materials to the demonstrations in May. Furthermore, while cursory searching found plenty of speculation, rumor and hyperbole about such instances, we have yet to find any actual hard evidence outside of commentary. To the contrary, a civil liberties advocate told an independent news website in December: “This is part of a spectrum of information war strategies that the state uses to repress dissent.”

(via noneofthismatters-deactivated20)

Reblogged from

“Allowing law enforcement records to be forwarded to N-Dex would be a benefit to law enforcement agencies not only in Minnesota, but also across the nation. As we are all aware, criminals are not concerned with geographic or political jurisdictional boundaries.”

Ron Sager, president of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, wrote in support of a program, known as the National Data Exchange, that would nationalize criminal intelligence data. Minnesota is weighing whether to link a statewide database with the FBI information-sharing system, despite concerns by privacy and open-government advocates about the accuracy of such data, among other issues. Read the full article. (via centerforinvestigativereporting)

Reblogged from Center for Investigative Reporting