$4 billion shopping spree arms California police after 9/11

Local police all across America are on a ?gear-buying spree,? turning to?quasi-military tactics and equipment thanks to $34 billion?in post-9/11 grants from the federal government, according to ?the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Local police agencies in California? which clocks in No. 2 for most federal grants received, after New York ? have gotten nearly $4 billion?since the attacks 10 years ago, according to a?report called ?America?s War Within.?

That money has fueled a rapid, broad transformation of police operations in departments across the country, the CIR found ? and the federal government exercises little oversight.

?If terrorists ever target Fargo, N.D., the local police will be ready,? the CIR reports. ?In recent years, they have bought bomb-detection robots, digital communications equipment and Kevlar helmets, like those used by soldiers in foreign wars. For local siege situations requiring real firepower, police there can use a new $256,643 armored truck, complete with a rotating turret. Until that day, however, the menacing truck is mostly used for training runs and appearances at the annual Fargo picnic, where it?s been displayed near a children?s bounce house.?

Its findings echo a recent project by the Los Angeles Times, which found that?$75 billion?a year is spent by federal and state governments on domestic security ? buying things like dive gear and underwater radios in?Keith County, Nebraska?(pop.?8,370), cattle nose leads, halters and electric prods in?Cherry County?(pop.?6,148) and?9-ton?BearCat?armored vehicles ? complete with turrets ? in?Los Angeles?and hundreds of smaller communities from coast to coast.

We at The Watchdog tried to get our paws around the big picture, and found that the?War on Terror?s financial cost has been trillions.

The question raised by all these reports is one America would do well to ponder: Is it all worth it?

Here are the federal grants that have come to state and local law enforcement in California, year by year, since 9/11, according to CIR:

• 2002: $71 million
• 2003: $355.5 million
• 2004: $408.6 million
• 2005: $381.3 million
• 2006: $314.4 million
• 2007: $469.7 million
• 2008: $468.7 million
• 2009: $550.1 million
• 2010: $513 million
• 2011: $340.2 million

For a grand total of $3.87 billion over the past decade.

And here?s a breakdown of what California received in 2011 alone:

Per capita grants:?$9.11*Total grants:?$340,215,472

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Source: http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2011/12/27/4-billion-shopping-spree-arms-california-police-after-911/145045/

bedlam bedlam cotto vs margarito 2 cotto vs margarito cotto vs margarito miguel cotto cotto