The Militarization of our Local Police (#13 PC2012 Topic)

Back during the Eisenhower administration, a federal emergency readiness legislature was in acted to fight against the very real threat of a Nuclear attack. This program, that laid dormant for years, is now being "reintroduced" through a piece of legislature called The National Emergency Centers Establishment Act. This act, presented as a call to action to create emergency centers in major places around the United States, is essentially the "militarization of FEMA". FEMA being the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

This "militarization" revitalization dates back to the events of 9/11, wherein a COG (Continuity of Government) operation was initiated to aid in the need for increased alert and Policing action around the country in the wake of a "state of emergency". This increase is all well and good, except for the fact that ten years later, when we are not "at war" with islam, elements of the COG plan initiated around the same time as the Patriot act, are still being utilized today, over ten years later.

How are these COG policies still being used all this time later you may ask? Well, according to the National Emergencies Act, no later than six months after the emergency is declared, and no later than the end of each six month period, congress is to meet and discuss the discontinuation of the emergency if possible. Since 9/11, congress has not met ONCE to discuss this topic, thus the state of emergency remains today. This gives the government the rights to intervene in general policing actions, actions that blatantly violate Posse Comitatus procedures. Posse Comitatus is intended to limit the powers of local governments and law enforcement agencies to use military personnel to enforce laws.

With the state of emergency still in effect, the Continuity of Government pretty much allows the president and Secretary of Defense to deploy the military for whatever they please, on our own soil.

After a LexisNexis search on this topic, I found that this story, while not discussed with the emphasis of the Government having overreaching power as in the PC2012 text, there is lots of broadcast about the militarization of police, including home raids, that happen 100-150 times a day in the USA, and other things that should be controlled by local police in a peaceful manner.

Americans Worry Over Freedoms discusses the storming of homes without real probable cause and how "peaceful" arrests quickly turn violent. A free for all on a decade of war discusses how, with the COG operations, the government is allowed to spend millions and trillions on militarization and protection that is not necessary and is quickly becoming a huge constitution violation issue.

Sources:

LexisNexis search results linked above

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

YouTube video Links above

PC2012 Website and text