U.S. Mayors Request Funding For A Police State[?]
by Dave Gibson, Columnist
February 18, 2009
On the weekend of January 16-18, 2009, the U.S. Conference of Mayors held their
annual meeting. At the top of their agenda was the growing economic crisis and
how their own municipal budgets have been affected. Of course, their solution
is to ask for a taxpayer-funded bailout. However, this bailout request looks
more like the national defense budget for a small country, than a plea to keep
the lights on in city hall.
The Mayors’ 2009 meeting report began: “The U.S. economy enters 2009 in crisis.” the report ends with 344 pages of requests from Washington. The Mainstreet Economic Recovery proposal can be viewed at USMayors.org.
While the Conference of Mayors often asks for help from the federal government, this year’s list is larger than ever and incredibly heavy with requests for law enforcement . From armored vehicles to “live fire houses,” police departments both large and small seem to be preparing for full-scale war.
The following is a small sampling of U.S. cities and their requests for police equipment:
Arlington, TX…Unmanned Aerial Drone…$625,000
Arlington, TX…Tasers…$729,000
Bell Gardens, CA…Police Station Expansion…17,000,000
Bowling Green, KY…Police Storage Facility…$34,000,000
Brockton, MA…10 Segway Police Units…$75,000
Cocoa Beach, FL…Public Safety Facility…$12,000,000
Columbia, MO…Armored Vehicle…$300,000
Conyers, GA…General Dynamics “ruggedized” laptops…$40,000
Fayetville, AR…Tasers…$83,7000
Frisco, TX…Armored Vehicle…$125,000
Fort Wayne, IN…Tasers…$24,000
Hampton, VA…Air Tactical Unit…$3,500,000
Indianapolis, IN…Street Cameras…$600,000
Irving, TX…Biometric Scanners, Cameras, RFID Scanners…$5,000,000
Norfolk, VA…New 2nd Precinct Station…$18,900,000
Norfolk, VA…Curfew Assessment Center…$1,500,000
Orlando, FL…Tasers…$135,000
Pleasanton, CA…Mobile Command Unit…$400,000
Pleasanton, CA…SWAT Team Vehicle…$250,000
Port St. Lucie, FL…Handheld Computers…$96,000
Salt Lake City, UT…Aerial Surveillance Drone…$200,000
Shreveport, LA…New Evidence Warehouse…$5,000,000
Shreveport, LA…Mobile Command Unit…$1,300,000
Shreveport, LA…Regional Emergency Operations Center…$100,000,000
Sparks, NV…Armored SWAT Vehicle…$420,000
Sparks, NV…Shooting House (Live Fire Training)…$600,000
St. Louis, MO…New Evidence Warehouse…$2,500,000
Stamford, CT…Biological/Chemical Testing Equipment…$450,000
Sunnyvale, CA…License Plate Reading Technology…$108,000
Talahassee, FL…Downtown Surveillance Camera System…$7,500,000
Taylorsville, UT…New Evidence Warehouse…$1,000,000
Tombstone, AZ…New Police Station…$1,000,000
University Heights, OH…New Police Station (32 Officers)…$5,000,000
West Palm Beach, FL…Helicopter…$1,200,000
Winston Salem, NC…Tasers…$500,000
Doing their part for Big Brother, the following cities requested stimulus money for public surveillance camera systems: Brockton, MA; Buffalo, NY; Burnsville, MN; Caguas, Puerto Rico; Cerritos, CA; Columbia, SC; Compton, CA; Homestead, FL; Hormigueros, Puerto Rico; Indianapolis, IN; Inglewood, CA; Lewiston, ME; Lorain, OH; Lynn, MA; Marion, OH; Merced, CA; New Rochelle, NY; North Richland Hills, TX; Oakland, CA; Orange, NJ; Orem, UT; Orlando, FL; Pembroke Pines, FL; Ponce, Puerto Rico; Riverdale, IL; Shreveport, LA; Silver City, NM; Sumter, SC; Tallahassee, FL; Warren, OH; and Wilkes-Barre, PA.
Tulsa, OK topped the list with a wish list of $135 million worth of public safety requests. While tiny Ottawa, IL (pop. 18,307) made a request which may put the town’s residents on edge, with an order for $60,000 worth of “tactical entry rifles.”
The total amount requested from the federal government by various cities for their police departments is a staggering $5.5 billion.
It would appear that our mayors want to turn this country into a police state, they apparently also believe that the federal government is willing to oblige.
It is more than a little disgusting that during a time when millions of Americans are having trouble keeping a roof over their heads, and food on the table that a lobbying group such as the U.S. Conference of Mayors would have the audacity to belly-up to the trough for more of our money for such things as “ruggedized” laptops and aerial drones.
It is also more than a little frightening that millions of dollars worth of tasers and armored vehicles are now being requested from Pleasanton, CA to Winston Salem, NC and all points in between.
With every passing day, this country is marching towards an Orwellian existence. ***
© 2009 Dave Gibson
COPYRIGHT © 2009 BY THE AMERICAN PARTISAN. All writers retain rights to their work.