One Nation Under Swat: The militarization of our police.

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/one-nation-under-swat-militarization-americas-police?akid=12130.294211.A3FG5S&rd=1&src=newsletter1015552&t=5

Take the latest news from Bergen County, New Jersey, one of the richest counties in the country.  Its sheriff’s department is getting two mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPs -- 15 tons of protective equipment -- for a song from the Pentagon.  And there’s nothing special in that.  The Pentagon has handed out  600 of them for nothing since 2013, with plenty more to come.  They’re surplus equipment, mostly from our recent wars, and perhaps they will indeed prove handy for a sheriff fretting about insurgent IEDs (roadside bombs) in New Jersey or elsewhere in the country.  When it comes to the up-armoring and militarization of America’s police forces, this is completely run-of-the-mill stuff.
The only thing newsworthy in the Bergen story is that  someone complained.  To be exact, Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan spoke up in opposition to the transfer of the equipment.  “I think,” she  said, “we have lost our way if you start talking about military vehicles on the streets of Bergen County.”