President Barack Obama plans to bar US police from getting tracked armored vehicles, bayonets, grenade launchers, and large-caliber firearms, in response to accusations that law enforcement has become too militarized.
After controversy over the policing of high-profile protests in Baltimore, Maryland and Ferguson, Missouri, the White House said Monday that Obama will move to choke police access to military equipment.
“At times, the law enforcement response to those protests was characterized as a ‘military‐style’ operation,” said a 50-page report that will form the basis of Obama’s announcement later Monday.
Those disturbances showed “law enforcement officers atop armored vehicles, wearing uniforms often associated with the military, and holding military-type weapons.”
