New Hampshire State Legislator Hopes To Push Back Against Police Militarization With New Bill

NH residents: call or email your rep and tell them to support Rep. Hoell's PEACE Bill.


New Hampshire State Legislator Hopes To Push Back Against Police Militarization With New Bill

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140217/12044226252/new-hampshire-state-legislator-hopes-to-push-back-against-police-militarization-with-new-bill.shtml

The militarization of law enforcement agencies is a worrying development. It's not necessarily new. Law enforcement agencies have been converting police departments into quasi-military outfits for years, most of it spurred on by the over-deployment of SWAT teams to handle basic arrests and take down ever-so-dangerous marijuana users.

The push has become a shove in the last decade or so, as the government has handed out grants to purchase military-grade vehicles and equipment, when not just simply handing over the keys to something like Lenco's BearCat to any PD that requests one.

A New Hampshire state representative, J.R. Hoell, is trying to push back against this and further separate our military and law enforcement entities.

Enter State Representative J.R. Hoell, a libertarian Republican who represents Dunbarton, NH, just outside of Concord. Hoell recently introduced a bill, the Police Equipment and Community Engagement (PEACE) Act, in the state legislature.

The proposed legislation is now in committee. If it’s passed and signed into law by the governor, state and municipal agencies in New Hampshire will be barred from buying or even accepting free offers of “military style equipment” for police use, except with the approval of the assembled citizenry at a public town meeting.

That prohibition would include not just MRAPS and BearCats, but also things like fully automatic weapons or anything that is not “available in an open commercial market.”

From another article:


http://whowhatwhy.com/2014/02/17/police-state-gears-up/

Rep. Hoell spoke to us about his bill.

WhoWhatWhy: Why did you introduce this bill?

Rep. Hoell: I introduced the bill because the citizens of Concord were overwhelmingly opposed to their police department having MRAP vehicles and it was ordered anyway. I don’t see any reason for police to have armored vehicles, or even fully automatic weapons.

WhoWhatWhy: Why are you opposed to police having military equipment?

Rep. Hoell: The role of the state is to make sure the citizens have the best law enforcement and not one that’s overly militarized. Whatever happened to police wearing blue? Now they are dressed in black, head to toe, and when they go to serve warrants at people’s homes, they break the door down, and they wear masks.

WhoWhatWhy: Why the masks?

Rep. Hoell: I don’t know, maybe it’s a military thing. But it is not community policing.

WhoWhatWhy: What kind of support are you getting for this bill?

Hoell: I’m getting support from citizens of the state across the political spectrum.

WhoWhatWhy: Why do you think police in this country are becoming increasingly militarized?

Rep. Hoell: I can’t speculate about why this is happening, but I know that the citizens don’t want it. It needs to stop.
- See more at: http://whowhatwhy.com/2014/02/17/police-state-gears-up/#sthash.X4w3rGUi.dpuf

So it's OK for any citizen to bear any arms they want under The Second Amendment, but the police can't? That bill ain't going anywhere!!

News Buzzard wrote:So it's OK for any citizen to bear any arms they want under The Second Amendment, but the police can't? That bill ain't going anywhere!!

You didn't read the article:

That prohibition would include not just MRAPS and BearCats, but also things like fully automatic weapons or anything that is not “available in an open commercial market.”

When, exactly, did progressives stop caring about civil liberties and heavy handed police tactics, especially when wielded against minorities?

I'm still a little fuzzy on the precise date....

Anti Federalist wrote:"...The push has become a shove in the last decade or so, as the government has handed out grants to purchase military-grade vehicles and equipment, when not just simply handing over the keys to something like Lenco's BearCat to any PD that requests one.
[/b]

Just getting one is like housing a "free" elephant.

It's the maintenance that "gets you"

  


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