In Ferguson, MO, policed armed with assault rifles and wearing body armor threatened the free press with arrest and pelted both journalists and nonviolent protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets. This is just the latest incident in a growing national epidemic of excessive police force, as SWAT raids have reached an all-time high even as violent crime has plummeted to a 44-year low.
This is a threat to our Constitutional protection from unlawful search and seizure, our right to peaceably assemble, and the freedom of the press.
We demand you end the Department of Defense's "1033" program, which funnels surplus military equipment to local law enforcement. When police are outfitted like soldiers, the streets become their battlefield, and we are all potential 'enemy combatants'.