A Quaker Activist Group Forced the City of Orange to Reveal Police Department's Inventory

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VoiceOfOC

The American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization, filed a lawsuit against the Orange Police Department after they refused to fulfill a public records request on the purchase and deployment of militarized equipment in October 2021.

This refusal came just after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 481, a new state law that requires law enforcement agencies to adopt a written military equipment policy that lists all city-owned military-grade equipment and get public approval from their governing city councils.

“Militarized police forces bring dangerous weaponry into communities – especially Black and Brown communities – with devastating results,” Lindsay-Poland {co-director of the committee’s California Healing Justice program} wrote in the statement. “We hope that this lawsuit, and our efforts to increase transparency and accountability for law enforcement agencies across the state, will help mitigate the harm and violence caused by militarized policing.”

Orange’s military equipment policy shows that the city has five drones, an armored vehicle, 77 AR-15 style rifles, 33 “less lethal” impact projectile launchers, as well as flashbang grenades and tear gas. The City Council will consider military equipment in a second reading on June 14.

[AllaN01Bear]

1. send that equipment to ukr

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2. + a centillion

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3. The police have to prepare to make war on the citizens. No telling when we may break bad.

'Cause there's a monster on the loose It's got our heads into the noose And it just sits there watching'

Cowards that stand around watching while children are being slaughtered need armored vehicles and machine guns, to protect themselves from people who's only "armored" protection is a tee shirt and a protest sign. The "bad-ass cop" with the shaved head, tattoos and suited up like a knight, is a clear intimidation tactic and is not how policing should be done.

The police philosophy that cops are soldiers and the people are potential enemies leads us to a lot of unnecessary grief. An honest motto for cops today would read something like: "Blue lives matter (the rest of you not so much.&quot Instead of "to protect and serve" something like "to intimidate and bully." No longer "Officer Friendly" but "Officer Suspicious."

Police attracts bullies like shit attracts flies. It is our fault, they are on our payroll and we could change it. As long as the police police the police, nothing changes. Chief's of police should be "civilian managers" not law enforcement officers for the same reason that the elected President is in charge of the military. Perhaps police chief's and and sheriff's should be chosen from a pool of experienced pubic defenders...

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4. Monster: more pertinent than ever