Trump rolls back limits on military gear for police

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order reviving a program that provided local police departments with surplus military equipment such as high-caliber weapons and grenade launchers, despite past concerns that armored vehicles and other gear were inflaming confrontations with protesters.

The directive Trump signed Monday repeals Obama-era limitations on police agencies’ access to camouflage uniforms, bullet-proof vests, riot shields, firearms, ammunition and other items. The policy change is another way in which Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions are enacting a law-and-order agenda that sees federal support of local police as key to driving down violent crime.

Sessions announced Trump’s decision to roaring applause Monday at a national convention of the Fraternal Order of Police, one of the groups that had urged Trump to restore the military program.

Restrictions put in place by former President Barack Obama “went too far,” Sessions said. “We will not put superficial concerns above public safety.”

The new plan will “ensure that you can get the lifesaving gear that you need to do your job and send a strong message that we will not allow criminal activity, violence and lawlessness to become a new normal,” Sessions said.

Groups across the political spectrum have expressed concern about the militarization of police, arguing that the equipment encourages and escalates confrontations with officers. But many law-enforcement agencies and policing organizations see it as needed to ensure officers aren’t put in danger when responding to active shooter calls and terrorist attacks. An armored vehicle played a key role in the police response to the December 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif.

Congress authorized the Pentagon program in 1990, allowing police to receive surplus equipment to help fight drugs, which then gave way to the fight against terrorism.