Report: Trump administration plans to lift ban on giving military surplus items to police

A Humvee used by the Missouri National Guard.
(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The Trump administration is gearing up to restore a program that transfers surplus military equipment like armored vehicles and large-caliber weapons to local police departments, USA Today reports.

During the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, following the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown, police responded with vehicles that belonged in battlefields, and former President Barack Obama paused the surplus program, saying this repurposed gear made the officers look like an "occupying force" as opposed to one that's "part of the community that's protecting them and serving them."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.