Critics: Police equipped like armies going too far

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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_POLICE_SHOOTING_MISSOURI_MILITARY_GEAR?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Critics: Police equipped like armies going too far
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press
Aug 15, 6:39 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Missouri police department at the center of an uproar over the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager acquired two armored Humvees and other military gear for free through a Pentagon program that critics blame for "militarizing America's Main Streets" and aggravating clashes between police and protesters.

The Ferguson Police Department received the two Humvees as well as a generator and a flatbed trailer under the surplus equipment program run by the Defense Logistics Agency, which is in charge of getting supplies of all types for the military.

News footage and photos of police outfitted in paramilitary gear clashing with protesters in Ferguson - a largely black suburb of St. Louis with a mostly white police force - have provided new impetus to efforts to rein in the Pentagon program. It provides assault weapons and other surplus military equipment to local law enforcement agencies across the country.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said his committee will review the program to determine if the Defense Department surplus is being used as intended.