ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – In a surprise announcement, Monday, President Obama said the federal government will be banned from providing some military-style equipment to local police departments.
It comes after police and rioters clashed on the streets of Ferguson last year.
Former St. Louis County police chief Tim Fitch says it’s not true that any of the equipment used at the time came from the federal level, “There were no tanks, no tracked armored vehicles, no bayonets, no 50-caliber or higher weapons used there. None of that was on the scene in Ferguson.”
Fitch calls it a “politically-motivated” move that appears to only apply to local law enforcement, noting that no such ban was made against the FBI, DEA, or any other federal agencies.
Meanwhile, Missouri Congressman Lacy Clay (D-St. Louis) issued a statement applauding the ban: “I want to thank President Obama for acting on several of the key issues that Congressman Cleaver (D-Kansas City) and I raised with former Secretary of Defense Hagel when we met with him at the Pentagon just days after the unrest began last summer in Ferguson. I witnessed first-hand, high-powered sniper rifles with night scopes being pointed at my constituents who were peacefully exercising their constitutional rights. That kind of police militarization is harmful and it deepens the already wide gulf of mistrust that exists between communities of color and some local law enforcement agencies. I am proud to cosponsor new legislation with Mr. Cleaver and others to codify these changes made by executive order into federal law.”
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