Graphic of the Day: The Militarization of the US Local Police

From the New York Times: (bold mine)

During the Obama administration, according to Pentagon data, police departments have received tens of thousands of machine guns; nearly 200,000 ammunition magazines; thousands of pieces of camouflage and night-vision equipment; and hundreds of silencers, armored cars and aircraft.

The equipment has been added to the armories of police departments that already look and act like military units. Police SWAT teams are now deployed tens of thousands of times each year, increasingly for routine jobs.Masked, heavily armed police officers in Louisiana raided a nightclub in 2006 as part of a liquor inspection. In Florida in 2010, officers in SWAT gear and with guns drawn carried out raids on barbershops that mostly led only to charges of “barbering without a license.”

(from Mark Perry)

Why are the local police massively arming?

Congress created the military-transfer program in the early 1990s, when violent crime plagued America’s cities and the police felt outgunned by drug gangs. Today, crime has fallen to its lowest levels in a generation, the wars have wound down, and despite current fears, the number of domestic terrorist attacks has declined sharply from the 1960s and 1970s. 

Police departments, though, are adding more firepower and military gear than ever. Some, especially in larger cities, have used federal grant money to buy armored cars and other tactical gear. And the free surplus program remains a favorite of many police chiefs who say they could otherwise not afford such equipment. Chief Wilkinson said he expects the police to use the new truck rarely, when the department’s SWAT team faces an armed standoff or serves a warrant on someone believed to be dangerous…

Pentagon data suggest how the police are arming themselves for such worst-case scenarios. Since 2006, the police in six states have received magazines that carry 100 rounds of M-16 ammunition, allowing officers to fire continuously for three times longer than normal. Twenty-two states obtained equipment to detect buried land mines.

Worst case scenarios? Hmmm. If incidences of crime and terrorist attack has been falling, then what possible worst scenarios can there be?   

Has the US local police been preparing for a real life RED DAWN (pick your version 2012 or 1984)? 

Or could they be expecting an invasion from Martians ala Mars Attacks (1996) or from other aliens like the War of the Worlds (2005)? 

Or has the US government merely embraced Paul Krugman's prescription to fix the economy through fiscal spending based on an imaginary "alien invasion"?

Or has local police authorities been preparing for war against the citizenry? 

Or could all these be part of a gradualist scheme to impose a police state?

Don’t worry be happy, stock markets are at record highs!

Interesting…