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To date, the US has spent more than $15 billion on the militarization of police. This is how state police in the US got military weapons.
To date, the US has spent more than $15 billion on the militarization of police. This is how state police in the US got military weapons.
Weapons, vehicles, and more are acquired by US police through a military program called 1033. Police can get leftover war equipment for free, only paying for shipping and handling.
In 1968, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) funded what we know as SWAT, providing police with supplies like body armor, face shields, and special weapons.
SWAT's first test as a militarized front came when the LAPD used a tank on loan from the California National Guard on the Southern California Black Panther Party.
In 1982, LEAA was abolished when Congress failed to fund it. But by that time, SWAT teams and their militaristic approach had already become the norm. By the mid 1990s, there were about 45,000 SWAT incidents per year.
In 1989, the National Defense Authorization Act allowed for surplus Department of Defense (DOD) equipment to be transferred to US law enforcement. Eight years later, the 1033 program was born.
More than $7.4 billion worth of property has been transferred since the program began and over 8,000 law-enforcement agencies have enrolled. But the DOD does not provide training for law-enforcement agencies that receive military weapons.
For every one qualified officer, one M1911 pistol, M16 rifle, or M14 rifle is allocated. For every three officers, a department can get a Humvee. 
In the US, law enforcement kills over 900 people a year. Compare that to Norway, where there have been only four police-related killings since 2002.
Protesters against police brutality say building trust within the community may be a better solution to saving lives than using military weapons against them.
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