The Surge: U.S. DOJ And Trump To Further Militarize Police — $600 Billion In Equipment

By Aaron Kesel

U.S. President Donald Trump is using his executive order signed in 2017 to expand the militarized police forces across the nation in preparation to launch a sweeping crackdown on crime that Trump referenced was “the surge” according to a press event at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Conference and Exposition.

“In the coming weeks, Attorney General Barr will announce a new crackdown on violent crime — which I think is so important — targeting gangs and drug traffickers in high crime cities and dangerous rural areas,” Trump said during the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Chicago. “Let’s call it the surge,” the White House press release reads.

The President didn’t provide any details on the plan but he stated that the actions would be “very dramatic.”

Trump further expressed his administration’s “achievements” like putting military equipment into the hands of U.S. police officers, as Activist Post reported.

Trump then claimed “Afghanistan is a safe place” compared to Chicago and these actions would help to “keep you safe, I’ve made $600 million-worth of surplus military equipment available to local law enforcement,” Trump told the audience of police chiefs. “If you remember, the previous administration didn’t want to do that… They didn’t want to make you look so tough. They didn’t want to make you look like you’re a threat.”

Speaking of Afghanistan, here’s U.S. Marine Sgt. Shamar Thomas (who served in the war on terror) voicing himself during Occupy in 2011 reminding you that the streets aren’t a war zone and to lay down your weapons.

Here’s another powerful video where a veteran destroys a New Hampshire town hall for getting armored vehicles from the feds:

In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump repealed a ban set in place by the Obama administration barring law enforcement from being able to purchase military equipment.

That executive order by Obama effectively banned armored vehicles and large-caliber weapons from being acquired by local police departments across the nation, which effectively declares war on America’s streets, NY Post reported.

Obama’s Executive order 13688 banned the use of Defense Department armored vehicles, bayonets, grenade launchers, camouflage uniforms, and large-caliber weapons and ammunition from America’s law enforcement. With that act now repealed, Trump is allowing weapons made for war onto the streets of the United States – weapons that are designed to kill.

That’s not all the order prohibited; the purchase of weaponized aircraft such as drones, manned aircraft, armored and tactical vehicles command and control vehicles and more, according to Popular Mechanics.

At the time of the ban, Obama said that he was enacting the order because “equipment made for the battlefield is not appropriate for local police departments.”

“So we’re going to prohibit some equipment made for the battlefield that is not appropriate for local police departments,” Obama said. “There’s other equipment that may be needed in certain cases, but only with proper training.”

Congress enacted the National Defense Authorization Act in 1990, then called the 1208 program. In 1997, Congress replaced Section 1208 of the NDAA with Section 1033, which allowed the Pentagon to give their excess equipment to police fighting the war on drugs. They further added a section about counterterrorism to the bill, opening up a new list of equipment to be used by the police for whatever reason they saw fit under the 1033 program.

Its worth mentioning again that plans previously seen by USA Today claimed back in 2017 showed that the Trump Administration wanted to restore “the full scope of a longstanding program for recycling surplus, life-saving gear from the Department of Defense, along with restoring the full scope of grants used to purchase this type of equipment from other sources.”

“Assets that would otherwise be scrapped can be re-purposed to help state, local and tribal law enforcement better protect public safety and reduce crime.

“Much of the equipment provided through the 1033 program is entirely defensive in nature … that protect officers in active shooter scenarios and other dangerous situations,” the Trump administration proposal said.

It seems that U.S. President Donald Trump wants to reignite the war on drugs, gangs and much more – all wars that past administrations have failed to stop. While at the same time Trump wants to militarize the police for our “safety” by handing out formerly used military equipment like it is free candy. And not to mention the facial recognition cameras that police will be getting as recycled technology eventually over the next coming years.

Remember that time under Obama recorded by the ACLU that police departments were being offered tanks and an RPG? Now, what the hell does a police department need with a rocket launcher and a tank or any of these weapons?  In a large-scale terrorist attack, launching any type of explosive weapon risks innocents being killed and is a danger to public safety.

Even if it were for a strictly defensive purpose, this dangerous shift in policy would eventually be abused in some form of corruption like the security guards who falsely operated as law enforcement at the Navy’s base who stocked up on all this military gear and more for eleven long years without being caught … all on the taxpayers’ dime. That’s not all – since 9/11 police departments across the country have been able to acquire U.S. military equipment. All that banned equipment can now be used likely in a riot-type scenario like we have seen across the U.S. for the past couple months as Antifa, White Supremacist groups and Trump supporters clash on the streets. However, just remember the target is eventually you.

Watch Trump’s shocking speech on further militarizing the police state below:

Aaron Kesel writes for Activist Post. Support us at Patreon. Follow us on Minds, Steemit, SoMee, BitChute, Facebook and Twitter.

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