There's been a lot of talk, and writing, of late about what's now called the militarization of local police departments. Which is understandable given the surreal reaction to the riots in Ferguson, Mo., after an unarmed black teenager was shot by a white policeman there. The surreal scenes included police officers' taking to the streets doing their best Robocop imitations, complete with sniper rifles perched atop armored vehicles. And were camo'd fatigues and black helmets really necessary? Come on, fellas. And, yes, to no one's surprise, they were just about all fellas.
Most regular folks probably don't mind local cops getting surplus or used military equipment--so long as the police can be trusted with them instead of acting like damfools. Sometimes cops do need the firepower. And the protection. But what happened in Ferguson was ridiculous. Also provocative, stupid and generally something out of . . . . What should we call it, an old Keystone Kops movie remade as a horror film? Welcome to Ferguson, Mo.
But there was a dust-up back in the spring right here in Arkansas when it came to light that some local police departments were getting MRAPS, those mine-resistant armored vehicles that were used to patrol Iraq and Afghanistan. The ACLU was heard from, of course. (Military equipment! Military vehicle! Military tactics used against civilians!) But the rest of us more or less shrugged our shoulders. On those rare occasions when somebody is shooting up a neighborhood, the cops just might need an armored truck. And we still have faith in those public servants who protect and serve the rest of us.
A lot of us have no objection if the boys in blue get the occasional rifle or night-vision goggles from the Army (and at pennies on the dollar at that) but some of us do insist . . . .
That the cops don't lose them.
Did you see the shocker of a story on Monday's front page? It didn't exactly put our minds at ease. Because it turns out that, all around the state, police departments are losing their military weapons. And there didn't seem to be a whole lot of consequences, either. We can just imagine what would have happened to us if we'd somehow managed to lose the .45 we were supposed to turn in at the end of the Basic Officers Course. Imagine? We had nightmares about it.
The story in Arkansas' Newspaper said the Defense Department now has suspended 18 police departments or sheriff's offices around the state--eighteen of them--from the program that sells excess military equipment. Half of the law enforcement agencies were suspended because the hardware was lost, stolen or used in some sort of unauthorized way.
The story didn't make for assuring reading. There was the M-16 reported stolen from the back of a patrol car in Independence County. (Since recovered.) There were the three 12-gauge tactical shotguns missing in Woodruff County. Another three shotguns disappeared from Judsonia's police department. Over in Lawrence County, an M-14 was unaccounted for.
For goodness sake, a Humvee was taken for a joy ride in St. Francis County.
Inspectors have now visited some of these police departments and recommended that they give up what weapons and equipment they still have from the federal program. That is, any they've managed not to lose. Poor record-keeping, unsecured weapons and just general laxity with lethal weapons tend to make inspectors nervous. Not to mention the rest of us.
Some of these local police departments haven't given up their weapons even after they've been suspended from the program. And officials can't explain why.
Just an unfortunate misunderstanding? A matter of some paperwork not being filed in triplicate? A detail that slipped between the bureaucratic cracks?
Not when we're talking about M-16s and military shotguns. If an outfit can't account for those kinds of deadly weapons, they don't have any business keeping them. There are enough illegal guns floating around out there without the cops' putting even more on the streets.
Somebody has got to exercise some control over this mess. And that somebody probably works in a five-sided building with a Washington, D.C., address. And no doubt his or her title is something close to General. He--or she--needs to get this message: Help!
Editorial on 08/28/2014