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By Harriet Sinclair
Associate Editor
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The sheriff of Los Angeles wants to see local law enforcement armed with military equipment such as grenade launchers, high-powered firearms and armored vehicles.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell asked the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday to restore a program curtailed by former President Barack Obama in 2015 that saw surplus military gear sent on to law enforcement officers. McDonnell said such equipment would make it safer for officers on duty.
"What we're trying to be able to do is to avail ourselves to the tools necessary to be able to put between our deputies and the danger—an active shooter, an explosion, those kinds of things," McDonnell said in a Wednesday interview with The Associated Press.
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"In a terrorist situation, who gets the call? People call 911 and local police show up," McDonnell added. "We can't expect our people to be successful in our attempts to do that if we don't give them the proper equipment to protect them in that effort."
The federal program was shut down after Obama's 2015 executive order, which came on the heels of military gear being used by local police to tackle people protesting the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Obama's order placed conditions such as additional training and supervision on the use of other equipment.
"We've seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people a feeling like they're an occupying force, as opposed to a force that's part of the community that's protecting them and serving them," Obama said in a 2015 speech, adding military equipment could "alienate and intimidate local residents and may send the wrong message."
But McDonnell said there were circumstances under which military equipment could benefit law enforcement officers.
"The equipment isn't necessarily used on a daily basis, but can be available during the right circumstances," he told the AP.
He said the equipment had not always been used "in a way the public would be satisfied with" but assured the House Judiciary Committee that the use of such equipment in the future could be more closely monitored, with guidelines for how and when military gear is rolled out.
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