Tanks for Nothing: Why Obama’s Plan to End Police Militarization May Be Dead in the Water

06/09/2015 News Insights

By Taylor Wofford & Campaign Zero

Insight: When it comes to weapons transferred from other agencies, it seems almost impossible for the federal government to snatch them back from police, since local jurisdictions now hold the titles. Other agencies that run equipment transfer programs, including the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Treasury and Interior, as well as the General Services Administration, don’t retain titles. Federal regulators have not yet figured out how those agencies might get prohibited equipment back, according to officials from the Justice Department and the White House, who asked not to be named. “We’re entering new territory,” Wright says.