Saturday, July 30, 2011

One Step Closer To A Federal Police State

Crime prevention off military bases is the responsibility of civilian police, not the military. In 1878, following Reconstruction, the Posse Comitatus Act was passed. It limited the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement. The statute prohibits Army and Air Force personnel and units of the National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress.

Problem is, the military police in Homestead, Florida don't think that applies to them.  Recently, military police from the Homestead Air Reserve Base-– known as Security Forces patrolmen – have begun responding to emergency calls and detaining criminal suspects.   The Homestead Air Reserve Base has also established its own crime hotline, saying on its website: “If you know of a crime that has been committed, if you see a crime in progress, or if you see a suspicious person, vehicle, or situation that makes you feel a crime may be occurring, call the Security Forces Crime Stop Hotline.”

The firewall between military and civilian police duties was demolished with the passage of H.R. 5122, also known as the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007. It allowed the president to declare martial law under revisions to the Insurrection Act, and take charge of United States National Guard troops without state governor authorization when public order has been lost and the state and its constituted authorities cannot enforce the law.

The bill was repealed in 2008, but this has not stopped the military, numerous federal agencies, and the Department of Homeland Security from blurring the distinctions between military, federal and local police responsibilities.

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