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H.R. 675-A national police force?
July 3, 2009 | Tagged Directive 1404.10, H.R. 675, national security | 6 Comments
Check out the site here for H.R. 675. The bill would allow “civilian employees of the Department of Defense the authority to execute warrants, make arrests, and carry firearms.” The bill mentions these powers in conjuction with “any offense against the United States.”
As I read H.R. 675, the disturbing powers granted by the bill are the authority to “execute and serve any warrant or other process issued under the authority of the United States,” and to “make arrests without a warrant…” for probable cause of past commission or the commission of actual offenses against the United States. Do we really want game wardens serving warrants? What additional federal statutes might be passed that would give these newly minted minions of the law increased control over state and local issues?
Possession of a firearm following a conviction for a domestic violence misdemeanor was retroactively made a violation of federal law. (Lautenberg Amendment) Does this bill mean that a game warden would be making arrests during deer season for someone who pled out to a domestic violence beef in 1970 to avoid attorney’s fees, before the conviction meant a loss of Second Amendment rights? (Sorry about that, but the SCOTUS ruled that the Lautenberg Amendment did not have an Ex Post Facto problem.)
This proposed law seems to be an effort by Democrats to implement Obama’s national “civilian” security force. The US Department of Defense has issued Directive 1404.10 that appears to pave the way for a massive ”Civilian Expeditionary Workforce” to support military operations inside and outside the United States.
Are these measures designed to protect the American People from terrorism, or are they designed to protect the Federal Government from American Citizens? Do these activities, taken as a whole represent an attempt to circumvent the Posse Comitatus Act, which keeps the Federal Government out of local law enforcement?
Do the Democrats plan to establish a national police force along the lines of the French Surete? How will these plans relate to Obama’s volunteer youth corps? (See my post, “Obama’s ’service’ speech: Gestapo, Red Guards, or something else?” 07-21-08, under the tag, “national security.”)
Ask your senators and representatives to tell you what they know about H.R. 675 and DoD Directive 1404.10. These laws and regulations sound suspiciously like the birth of the Gestapo, the S.A., the S.S., the NKVD, or the KGB. Of course, this flurry of activity might be nothing at all. We need to find out what it is, before we have federal agents asking to see our papers at roadblocks and investigating “hooliganism” in our neighborhoods.
Def Mech
Comments
6 Comments so far
You guys are overly paranoid. Maybe this bill wasn’t clear, but this would do nothing but give the 0083 police officers that are currently employed by the Department of Defense the same authority as officers who work for the U.S. Mint, VA Hospitals, Pentagon, U.S. Capitol, CIA, NSA, Department of Energy and a host of other federal agencies currently have. The authority is always limited to the property that the officer works on and the streets immediately surrounding that federal property. Many of the vary officers that you are affraid of are given arrest authority from the states they are located in, and the “special agents (NCIS, AFOSI, ACID)” already have this authority, and to my knowledge havn’t abused it at all. Really guys, this is about the proper protection of the Military Bases that house the troops that we all support, as well as the other Defense agencies that they work for. This does not include active duty MP’s which is why Posse Commitatus doesn’t apply, and should never apply to civillian police officer. And for the record I am a “DOD” Police Officer, I have passed a 16 week police academy and attended many advanced law enforcement schools, despite all of my training, I have no statutory arrest authority, and have been jammed up because of it in the past. I couldn’t care less about protestors, but the abusive husband, drug dealer, thief, rapist, or other individuals who commit crime in my jurrisdiction. I shouldn’t have to second guess what I can and cant do when dealing with them. We conservatives are hurting ourselves with this one. Help us pass this bill ASAP
I am a Department of the Army Police (Series 0083) and I have to point some things out. This bill is about leveling the playing field and recognizing that the danger we face is the same if not more as any city or county cop faces off the military installation we work on. Keep in mind the numbers of service members that return from War with a serious condition (PTSD and otherwise) and we are the first responders that have to deal with these individuals. Therefore we should have the credentials and LEO status to back it up. We do real police work and make real enemies doing so. As far as training the Department of the Army has set up its own Police Academy that the civilian force must attend. This bill is intended to grant the rest of us DOD employees working as Law Enforcement the same powers many sections of the Government already have. This bill needs to be passed quickly and those that think that we would be out on the streets in every town knocking on their door honestly don’t know what they are talking about.
This doesn’t level the playing field at all. Military Police (MP’s, MA’s, SP’s) typically deal with the same level of danger (if not higher in some areas) that DOD cops deal with. While I do respect many DOD police officers, unfortunately, there is not a single unified standard of training among them. Some DOD police are highly trained but others may go through only a brief 4 week in-house academy. Why should we give this power to DOD police? The MP’s don’t have statutory authority either… and they run the same risks that the DOD cops run. So tell me… is this bill really necessary, or are the DOD cops just tired of being called Military Police in civilian uniforms?
There is no issue about ARMING them, it’s about DOD people having the right to accost civilians. We have police for that. The law was passed in 1875 prohibiting Fedral Military from policing citizens…LET IT STAND.
I have no idea what it might be, but I just wanted to say that I hope that you feel better!
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Well Im a civilian police officer and a civilian police officer on a military base. I understand the law more than most. Having said that one must understand that if a civilian works for the military they are still a civilian. The Posse Commatatus Act is to prevent the MILITARY from enforceing civilian law. I work for the military but im a CIVILIAN. So if I, as CIVILIAN police officer on a military base, am enforceing the law as a CIVILIAN I am not the MILITARY enforceing CIVILIAN law. So I dont fall under the PCA do to the fact that im not in the MILITARY. I understand that most cant understand that but that is really how it works. And as far as the Obama SS, I cant stand Obama. This does not matter towards that, we still have to enforce the laws of the land. If given a order to a enforce something that is unlauwful we cant enforce it. So in the end its like another municipal, city or county police department or sheriffs department being formed, it just happens to be on a military base. I dont hear anybody get pissed at the fact another civilian police department was formed, we are civilians enforceing civilians law thats it.