Militarization of our local Police

Police today look and act less like public safety officers and more like soldiers in the army. As you may have seen through media lately, especially after the Ferguson incident police department all over the U.S are have been receiving military grade equipment. They are receiving this equipment free of charge from a program that started in the 90's called the 1033 program. This program gives police and sheriffs departments military surplus from war zones in Afghanistan. We found that this surplus can be anything from a gun holster worth pennies on the dollar, all the way up to a mine resistant vehicle worth $733,000.00 which 5 departments just in the bay area received, including our neighbors Napa Police department. Why is it necessary for local police such as Nape Police Department to have these military grade weapons? Departments in the bay area received millions of dollars in supplies, with our Sonoma County Sheriffs Department receiving the third most in the bay area with a total of $1,069,231.80 worth of supplies.

A huge issue with this program is that when these departments receive this surplus they are not properly trained to use it. This has lead to an epidemic of cops shooting innocent people, which result in riots and then the use of this military surplus on civilians like what we saw in Ferguson.

It is looking like a us the people vs the police the way that they are arming themselves with this equipment, and if the people don't realize that this is happening and speak up against it, then I cant even image what will happen next.