DHS's Urban Shield program is responsible for police militarization
Stop 'Urban Shield' conference: Say 'NO' to militarized police:
The militarized lockdown and brutal attack on Ferguson’s Black community is not an anomaly. Police repression is growing across the US and globally through coordinated efforts to militarize policing tactics and weapons.
Local police departments are now directly funded by the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense. From September 4th-8th, one such DHS-backed program, Urban Shield, will be hosted by Oakland’s Marriott Hotel. This weekend – including SWAT training, national and transnational police networking, and weaponry sales – is coordinated by the Urban Areas Security Intiative (UASI.) UASI is an initative in which the St. Louis area police actively participate. The military tanks, tear-gas, rubber bullets and SWAT armor attacking the people of Ferguson are there because of these programs: Resist the occupation of Ferguson by stopping Urban Shield. Click here & here to find out more about the 2014 Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) People across the country are rising up to resist militarized policing. We cannot allow this engine of state repression to continue. Take a stand with WRL in Oakland to oppose Marriott’s profiteering from the militarized repression of our communities. Sign and share the petition.
The Department of Justice helped create the police state:
In 2013, the Department of Justice provided $45 million in a fund to hire police officers to be assigned to “public safety units” with an additional $125 million grant program to add to the 937 law enforcement officer’s position in public safety resources in 236 cities across the nation.
Attorney General Eric Holder said: “In the wake of past tragedies, it’s clear that we need to be willing to take all possible steps to ensure that our kids are safe when they go to school.
Especially in a time of increased challenges and limited budgets, our top priority must always be the safety and well-being of our children.”
The DoJ handed over an estimated $150,000 to help provide “critical support for law enforcement and essential services.”
Holder announced that the DoJ and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) have collaborated with state and local leaders to “as part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to supporting the City of Detroit, the Justice Department will take a variety of actions to provide direct assistance to city leaders and local law enforcement authorities in order to improve public safety throughout the metropolitan area.”
Through the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) office, the DoJ will fund “263 agencies a total of $125 million to help fund nearly 1,000 law enforcement positions – including more than 350 school resource officers.”
This includes “technical assistance” the Detroit police department (DPD) to advise and engage with “law enforcement executives”; as well as the award of $1 million to the City of Detroit to “purchase law enforcement technology and equipment to bolster the efficiency and effectiveness of law enforcement operations.”
Speaking at the American Bar Association (ABA) annual meeting of the House of Delegates, Holder called for a reexamination of “new law enforcement strategies to keep pace with today’s continuing threats as violence spikes in some of our greatest cities.”
Holder stated that he is directing “all US attorneys to create . . . comprehensive anti-violence strategies for badly-afflicted areas within their districts.”
The DoJ is assisting local and state police departments with money and assistance which would also facilitate the necessity and deployment of a non-federalized law enforcement agency to add to those departments that may need more hands on duty.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides funding to local police departments to send their officers to FLETC to receive militarized education in tactical operations.
FLETC has locations in Georgia, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Washington DC. This federal militarization of local police extends to international policing agencies which “develops, coordinates, manages, and delivers international training and technical assistance that promotes the rule of law and supports U.S. foreign policy.”
Over the last few years the DHS have been indoctrinating local police departments into “non-Federal law enforcement agencies” as outlined in the DHS directive from the Office for State and Local Law Enforcement (SLLE).
DHS is successful in their relationship with local police departments all across the nation because they are contracted private security firms (or hired armed guards) that are placed in a city or town to secure the population and generate revenue for the local government.
Ironically in 2009, President Obama said that: “We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."
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