Law Enforcement is Bringing Combat to Your Doorstep

What is the
1033 Program?
The Cruel Reality
Originally the 1208 Program
of the 1033 until 1997, the National
Defense Authorization Act of
1990 authorized the transfer
Over the last decade, of military hardware from the
there has been a renown DOD to "federal and state
agencies”.
issue of police brutality The purpose of this measure
and tensions have risen was to enforce the renowned
to a level where police “War on Drugs”, and the
program escalated from
forces across the there. The 1033 program is
country feel the need to designed to specifically work
have access to military with law enforcement
agencies, like local police
grade weapons and forces, school district police
utilities. and others.
In 2013 alone, $449 million
The purpose and oath of worth of material was
transferred to roughly 8,000
our law enforcement is Law Enforcement Agencies
to serve and protect. (LEA’s) across the country.
However, there seems to
be an innate emphasis Alberto Sepulveda was 11 years old when SWAT raided his families home
on defending in search of drugs in 2000. Though no drugs or any other evidence was
themselves, or in some found, Sepulveda was shot and killed by a SWAT members shotgun due to
accidental discharge. The SWAT member was cleared of all criminal
cases, attacking charges.
civilians.
There has been an
increase in police
violence across the
country and many
hotbeds have forces that
have been militarized.
 Program

WHAT IS IT THEY REALLY NEED?

The chart showcases the excess equipment received by

Chicago Cook County LEA’s in the 8-year span. The most
prevalent request seems to be the 5.56 MM rifles such as AR-
15’s. Many researchers have directly linked these increases in
supply of weapons to the increasing violence involving police
around the country.
Researchers Piece the Puzzle Together

The protests in Ferguson Missouri after the killing of Michael

Brown drew the spotlight onto the state of the nation’s police
forces and the measures being taken to control protests and to
protect officers. LEA’s maintained that the equipment supplied to
them through the 1033 program was specifically meant to
protect them and others in extreme situations. However, images
of unarmed protestors being met with the barrel ends of rifles
drew widespread criticism of the Ferguson PD and the 1033
Program.
Research from Ryan Welch, Jack Mewhirter, Casey Delehanty and The phrase, “Hands up, don’t shoot” was a focal point of the
Jason Wilks found evidence that militarization has increased heated discussion regarding police militarization.
civilian casualties. The study exposed a double mortality rate for
civilians in counties that receive military equipment. Additional
research conducted in 2016 also found that police are more likely
to be attacked when they are militarized, which raises the
question of how beneficial it is to pad police forces with military-
grade weaponry.
The group went as far to expose that more animals were killed by
police officers in those same areas, raising the pint that officers
have tended to resort to more violent measures when put in
common situations.

15-Year-old Jordan Edwards was shot and killed by 6-year vet Roy
Oliver while in a car leaving a party in early 2017. Edwards, along
with the vehicles other passengers, were unarmed. The weapon that
was fired by police was an AR-15 assault rifle.