Rep. Johnson reintroduces bipartisan bill to de-militarize police

Statement

Today, Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-04) re-introduced the bipartisan Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2019 -- H.R. 1714 -- that would place restrictions and transparency measures on the Department of Defense (DOD) Program that transfers excess military equipment to federal, tribal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

"Our neighborhoods need to be protected, but Americans and our founding fathers opposed blurring the line between police and the military," said Johnson. "Before another small town is transformed into a warzone with gifts of grenade launchers and high-caliber rifles, we must rein in this program and revisit our view of the future safety of American cities and towns."

Rep. Johnson, a former county commissioner in Georgia, said there is something fundamentally flawed with local law enforcement departments bypassing their local governing authority -- such as a commission, board or council -- to receive weapons of war without any local accountability.

Through the Defense Logistics Agency's Law Enforcement Support Office, or "1033 program", the Department of Defense has transferred $6.8 billion in surplus military equipment -- often from warzones overseas -- to our streets, without charge. In 2017, President Trump rescinded Obama's executive order and fully restored the Pentagon's 1033 program.

Republicans Justin Amash (R-MI) and Tom McClintock (R-CA) are among 66 original cosponsors of the bill.

The Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act would:

 Prevent transfers of equipment inappropriate for local policing, such as military weapons, long-range acoustic devices, grenade launchers, weaponized drones, armored military vehicles, and grenades or similar explosives.

 Require that recipients certify that they can account for all military weapons and equipment. In 2012, the weapons portion of the 1033 program was temporarily suspended after DOD found that a local sheriff gifted out army-surplus Humvees and other supplies. This bill would prohibit re-gifting and require recipients to account for all DOD weapons and equipment.

The bill adds requirements to enforce tracking mechanisms that keep up with and control transfers of the equipment, implement policies ensuring that police agencies can't surplus the equipment for resale, and defines drones more clearly.

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