SC politicians split on Trump’s order to arm local police with military gear

COLUMBIA, SC Count South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster among those supporting President Donald Trump’s latest executive order.

Trump signed an order Monday reviving a Pentagon program allowing local police departments to have access to grenade launchers, high-caliber weapons and other surplus U.S. military gear.

It was a program that President Barack Obama sharply curtailed in 2015.

McMaster is happy the program was reinstated and sees it as an endorsement for in local and state police.

“By fully restoring the 1033 military surplus program, President Trump has once again demonstrated his unflinching dedication to our nation’s law enforcement officers and their families,” McMaster said in a news release.

“The men and women in law enforcement put their lives on the line every single day – willing to give theirs in order to protect ours.”

Not all of South Carolina’s politicians are in agreement with McMaster’s support of the program. One of his predecessors took issue with the executive order.

U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, who previously served as S.C. governor from 2003-11, said the program “incentivizes the militarization of local police departments, as they are encouraged to grab more equipment than they need.”

One Midlands-area sheriff found value in the president’s executive order.

Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster said his department wouldn’t be able to afford equipment like night-vision goggles or ballistic helmets on its own. His deputies wouldn’t need body armor or riot shields daily, he said, but the items could save their lives in a rapidly unfolding situation.

“I don’t know of any police officer that would roam around with a Kevlar helmet on his head during routine situations,” Foster said. “The right to have access to this stuff doesn’t mean you’ve militarized your agency.”

President Obama limited the program amid an outcry over the heavily-armed police response to protesters after several police killings of black men in Ferguson, Mo., and other cities. The Trump administration maintains the program is needed to protect public safety.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said restrictions imposed by Obama went too far. “We will not put superficial concerns above public safety,” he said.

Civil liberties groups and some lawmakers assailed Trump’s order as a sign of the militarization of local police, arguing that the equipment encourages and escalates violent confrontations with officers.

“Tensions between law enforcement and communities remain high, yet the president and the attorney general are giving the police military-grade weaponry instead of practical, effective ways to protect and serve everyone,” said Kanya Bennett, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund called Trump’s order “exceptionally dangerous and irresponsible” and said revival of the program risks a “militarized police force” across the country.

Several states have enacted laws restricting police departments from obtaining surplus military equipment. Those state laws will remain in place even as Trump loosens federal rules.

Congress authorized the program in 1990, allowing police to receive surplus equipment to help fight drugs, which then gave way to the fight against terrorism. Agencies requested and received everything from camouflage uniforms and bullet-proof vests to firearms, bayonets and drones. More than $5 billion in surplus equipment has been given to agencies.

This story was originally published August 28, 2017 at 6:31 PM with the headline "SC politicians split on Trump’s order to arm local police with military gear."