DOD Repo'ing Two Humvee's From Ferguson P.D.

There is a whole bunch of fisking going on in this article from what I see.

DOD apparently gave them to a Missouri weapons distributor who gave them to Ferguson, who already had two, then DOD "lost" the paperwork and are now taking them back to give to someone else. At least that's what I got out of it.

Sounds to me like someone is getting singled out and spanked too.

There are some interesting facts about how all this military equipment that Obama said he was going to cut back on giving to these guys is still being handed out like candy except there is just more Red Tape involved.

Pentagon officials said they ordered Ferguson to return the two vehicles in June this year after discovering in a data review that the city had been given twice as many Humvees in 2013 under the so-called “1033” equipment transfer program as they had previously known, without proper federal authorisation.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database?CMP=ons_b-richmapper

“The Ferguson police department officially has two Humvees on their books; the state coordinators provided the police department two more Humvees without following the proper transfer protocol,” Mark Wright, a spokesman for the Defense Department, said in a statement.

But this was denied by Missouri law enforcement officials, who in effect operate a warehouse for federal military equipment and act as broker between the Pentagon and municipalities in the state that are seeking it. The state officials said the Pentagon did give permission for Ferguson to have four Humvees before “losing the records” for two of them. Wright, the Pentagon spokesman, did not immediately respond to this claim.

Officials said Ferguson initially told the Pentagon they wanted to appeal against the decision to take back the vehicles, but this was rejected by the Defense Department. “So we’re going to go down with a trailer and truck and get them on an expedited basis,” said Mike O’Connell, the communications director for the Missouri department of public safety, which acts as the go-between with the US government in the equipment transfer program.

Wright said the two additional Humvees may be assigned to another law enforcement agency in Missouri after being returned by Ferguson. He said Ferguson was not being terminated or suspended from the 1033 program and could make future applications. The city is home to only 21,000 people and has a police department comprising about 55 officers, leading many critics to question the need for an arsenal of military-style equipment.

There is much more at the link.



Give it a read.