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Obama Administration Plans To Seize Humvees From Ferguson Police

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Jonah Bennett Contributor
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The Obama administration has stated that it plans to seize military Humvees from the Ferguson police force in Missouri, just as the city is experiencing significant unrest.

Local police deployed Humvees last summer to control the riots sparked by the shooting of Michael Brown. Those same Humvees reappeared on the one-year anniversary of Brown’s death Sunday to control unrest boiling over in the St. Louis suburb. An 18-year-old reportedly opened fire on a police SUV and was gunned down in response, sustaining life-threatening injuries. St. Louis County implemented a state of emergency Monday.

Officials appear not to be pleased with the recent Humvee deployment.

“So we’re going to go down with a trailer and truck and get them on an expedited basis,” Mike O’Connell, the communications director for the Missouri department of public safety, told The Guardian.

The department of public safety functions as the middleman in transferring equipment to and from the federal government, and intends to take back two Humvees. The move comes regardless of protests from the Ferguson police department and state-level officials, who have tried to appeal the Pentagon’s seemingly arbitrary and ill-timed decision. Federal officials maintain the upcoming seizure of the Humvees has no relation to riots which have recently reignited in Ferguson.

Controversy over surplus military equipment extends back to last summer, when the Ferguson police department made full use of Humvees provided by the Pentagon as part of a program to distribute surplus military equipment to local law enforcement.

Outrage ensued at the use of equipment in the wake of riots. President Barack Obama subsequently called for a review of the surplus distribution program.

In June of this year, the Pentagon ordered for the Humvees to be returned.

Officials maintain that the recall is because the local police department was given double the number of vehicles without authorization from the federal government.

“The Ferguson police department officially has two Humvees on their books, the state coordinators provided the police department two more Humvees without following the proper transfer protocol,” Mark Wright, a spokesman for the Defense Department, told The Guardian.

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