Moreover, most local police authorities are under local control — mayors, city councils, district attorneys, police chiefs, sheriffs. That’s where the accountability for police misconduct begins.
But Congress could take a significant step toward reining in that misconduct by passing a bill to end the practice of allowing the Pentagon to give surplus war equipment to local police departments. There is simply no good reason for police in any city — from Washington to Wichita — to roll down the streets in armored personnel carriers, armed with battering rams and grenade launchers. They are not going to war. American citizens are not enemy combatants. Continue reading.