The 1033 Monthly #9

October 6, 2022

It has been a few months since the Uhuru House of the African People’s Socialist Party was raided by the FBI in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) has vehemently condemned this assault on one of our movement allies. We recognize at BAP that this FBI search is only the beginning of further state assaults on those engaging in principled, radical, African, anti-imperialist organizing. The absurd loopholes and justifications the state will come up with to disrupt Africans mobilizing the masses will only continue as more people get politicized.

We as radical Black people engaged in struggle must be conscious of how the state will stifle our politics. This newest edition of the 1033 Monthly Newsletter gives some historical insight into how the 1033 program was (partially) justified in 1997, along with some recent updates surrounding efforts to curtail the 1033 program’s distribution of heavy-duty military weapons. Please continue to share and distribute the newsletter to help bring more widespread recognition to this violent government initiative. Also, tap into our resource page to learn about how you can get your area to stop participating in the 1033 program.

No Compromise, No Retreat!

How the North Hollywood Shootout Led to the Now-Controversial 1033 Program

This article discusses the historical trajectory of how the 1033 program was incentivized to be created
On February 28, 1997, two civilian bank robbers outgunned LAPD for 44 minutes after attempting to steal around $300,000 from a North Hollywood Bank of America branch
The fallout from the events of the shootout led to the National Defense Authorization Act of 1997 to include section 1033, which established what we know as the 1033 program
State justification of possible threats of such unlikely events facilitates the very real daily surveillance of Black people and other marginalized groups

Pressley Calls on Biden to Stop Allowing Military Weapons to Go to Police

Several house representatives, along with a few senators, sent a letter to the Biden administration calling for the curtailing of the 1033 program
These legislators are calling for implementing Section 12 of the new Executive Order 14074, which could restrict the types of military equipment that would get transferred, including firearms and ammunitions of 0.50 calibers or higher, firearm silencers, grenade launchers, and other forms of equipment
Unclear to what extent this letter has been received by the executive branch, much less do we know whether any of this could be implemented

Additional Stories:

Banner photo: An armored Hollywood SWAT vehicle parked on the street behind an HPD SUV (courtesy of grunge.com, Felix Mizioznikov / Shutter stock)

The 1033 Monthly #8

May 27, 2022

Since January 2021, more than $106M in combat gear has been transferred to Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs). Formally signed into law in 1997 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the 1033 Program continues to haunt working-class and colonized folks in the U.S. The program administered by the Department of Defense fosters a culture of militarism in law enforcement agencies that lead to an increase in violent behavior among officers. The more weapons transferred, the more deadly the encounters with armed agents of the state. SWAT team raids were originally practiced on low-level offenders and today, militarized gear via 1033 such as MRAPs are used to serve simple arrest warrants. Since the start of the year, police have killed 366 people with 28% of those victims being Black folks.

In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams’ 2022 budget proposes cuts to every department except the police. This is despite the fact that the NYPD already has a larger budget than that of Ukraine’s military. Alongside revamping the anti-gun unit, Adams is considering using Israeli drones to further terrorize the local population under the guise of fighting crime. The drones cost $70,000 to $100,000 per piece, a sum which can be used towards social programs but instead is potentially going towards further militarization of the state. With Biden increasing police budgets on a federal level and local LEAs such as the NYPD possessing a budget of $10.4 billion, it is clear that right-wing democrats are dedicated to war abroad and domestically with no relief for the working-class in sight.

Florence Police Department suspended from federal government equipment program

Following a surprise audit by the state coordinator, Florence PD in Colorado was suspended for failing to show $6,745 of equipment acquired through the 1033 Program
Suspension to take place for only 60 days
Although this likely came from a misunderstanding or lack of simple failure to produce the equipment on time, this suspension comes following more recent calls by residents and former city council members to withdraw from the program
It is unclear as to the state of the program following this suspension, but Florence PD is likely to continue using equipment

Study: Militarizing police doesn’t reduce crime

Re-sharing of 2020 study published by LSU and Emory that confirmed with significant evidence that police militarization through the 1033 Program does not reduce crime
Emory Professor Tom Clark succinctly noted that “The most important thing for policy makers and the public to know is that you can’t justify giving surplus military equipment to police departments on the grounds it will lead to a reduction in crime.”
Research also concluded that further militarization had also led to worse relationships between citizens and police, as well as making the job less safe for cops

Additional Stories:

Banner photo: A Police officer with an assault rifle watches protesters from an armored vehicle. (Ricardo Arduengo/Getty Images)

The 1033 Monthly #7

March 29, 2022

Joe Biden and the right-wing Democrats have declared war on the working-class and colonized people of the U.S. After the rebellions that took place all over the world in the summer of 2020 in response to the lynching of George Floyd, many activists organized around either defunding or abolishing the police. Delivering his State of the Union address on March 1, 2022, Joe Biden said “The answer is not to defund the police. It’s to fund the police. Fund them. Fund them.” Nevermind that at least a quarter of USians were in favor of defunding the police. Nor that U.S. police have shot and killed at least 1,055 people in 2021 alone. The message is clear—the ruling class will not allow their security apparatus to be disarmed nor are they willing to divert those funds towards social programs to benefit marginalized communities.

The war currently taking place in Ukraine with Russia has many citizens in the West urging the U.S. to arm Ukrainians and intervene in the conflict directly or through NATO. What that means is that taxpayer dollars will enrich weapons contractors like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin and any relevant surplus weaponry will make its way back to the U.S., and into the hands of local and state police via the Department of Defense’s 1033 program. We reject the notion of escalating conflict abroad through material support from the military-industrial complex as well as for the domestic occupying force that we call the police here in the states.

Hawaii bill would limit state participation in federal programs to militarize police

Senator Stanley Chang (D) is pushing Senate Bill 2239 which would restrict state and local law enforcement from acquiring specific military equipment, including weaponized drones, military rifles, grenade launchers, and other items
Biden has yet to reinstate any restrictions or oversight that was previously in place for the 1033 program under the Obama administration (which itself was minimal in its enforcement)
The bill needs to pass through the Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs Committee to proceed

San Diego Police to adopt new rules for use of military-style equipment

SDPD released new guidelines for funding and acquisition of military equipment in their force, which will be set for approval by the city council in the near future
In September of 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB481, which mandates law enforcement agencies have to receive approval from their mayors/city councils to use military equipment in their jurisdictions
SDPD does not participate in 1033 according to city officials, but AB481 also oversees how law enforcement agencies are allowed to participate in the program

Additional Stories:

Banner photo: Santa Cruz County Sheriff's SWAT team members (right) get help from Santa Cruz Police in searching for a suspect in a shooting on Riverside Road at Blackburn Street in Watsonville. (Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian file)

The 1033 Monthly #6

February 3, 2022

Republicans have attempted to attribute the lack of an adequate response to climate disaster, such as the incident where commuters were stuck on the Virginia I-95 for 27 hours due to a devastating winter storm, on the suggestion that Democrats have opposed the 1033 program. Increased militarization of the police has not led to lesser crime nor has it made police safer. Grenade launchers, MRAPs and similar equipment would have had no practical use in saving commuters who were stranded in below-freezing temperatures without food, medication and fuel for 27 hours.

Both parties have consistently voted to increase the military and police budgets across the country instead of investing in infrastructure and curbing climate disaster. Most police departments, as noted in a recent investigation and our last newsletter, rarely use this militarized equipment for severe weather events. Furthermore, the U.S. military emits more greenhouse gasses than 140 countries combined in addition to using this equipment internationally and domestically to brutalize colonized people in an effort to protect oil supply interests.

This coastal town needs federal aid for climate adaptation. Instead it’ll get a military truck.

Rather than counties receiving federal funds to help combat rising sea levels, they are instead receiving military equipment
This has been in large part a recent trend by law enforcement to justify its usage of the 1033 program to acquire military equipment for “climate change” mitigation
Sheriffs in Johnson County, Iowa have used the military mine–resistant vehicles they claimed were using to help plow through blizzards; instead, they were used against BLM protestors

Johnson County Sheriff’s army truck is here to stay

Johnson County, Iowa law enforcement has been battling for months to continue their usage of military vehicles
The Johnson County Board of Supervisors has been increasingly ambivalent about unnecessarily funding and spending for law enforcement, a sign indicating a possible route towards reducing police funding
Supervisors have begun funding community outreach instead of a new vehicle

Additional Stories

Banner photo: SWAT teams advancing through a parking lot as a gunman opened fire at a grocery store in March of last year in Colorado. (Chet Strange / Getty Images)

The 1033 Monthly #5

December 9, 2021

Last month, several states gathered together for the UN Climate Summit known as the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26). Amidst the lackluster responses and negligible commitments by imperialist states during the conference, there were no plans to discuss the impact militaries across the globe have in their massive emissions rates. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dodged a question from journalist Abby Martin during the conference about the Pentagon contributing more carbon emissions than 140 other countries.

The justification of using the military and law enforcement in efforts to help defend against the climate crisis is not only hypocritical, but also a necessary part of how the state justifies the utilization of the 1033 Program. This month’s newsletter highlights a recent investigation by reporters at the HuffPost, which found that nearly all requests for military equipment in recent years by law enforcement groups justified these vehicles and supplies as a part of their role in climate disaster mitigation.

We know that the military terrorizing oppressed peoples abroad, and much less the police terrorizing our communities here in the US, are not interested in addressing the climate crisis. Only we as Africans, in solidarity with our other marginalized comrades, organizing for our collective liberation, will facilitate a sustainable future. No compromise, no retreat.

In solidarity,

Rhamier & Noah

1033 leads for the Research & Political Education Team

Police Increasingly Cite Climate Disasters When Seeking Military Gear, Documents Show

The Jackson County Sheriff’s office claimed that a new MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle in 2014 for Iowa City would be used to facilitate rescue missions from extreme weather events
In actuality, the MRAP vehicle was utilized during the 2020 Summer uprisings when officers teargassed protestors and was also used to conduct arrest raids in a predominately Black neighborhood
In recent years (article covered 2017-2018), nearly all of the claims by law enforcement offices to get support for military-grade equipment included mention of combatting climate disasters whereas in prior years there was almost no note of it
Law enforcement agencies are justifying their existence in this time particularly for disaster preparedness, and there are no regulations to ensure that these groups only use vehicles and other equipment just for these reasons

Demilitarize the Police

Brennan Center for Justice reviewed the historical relationship the militarization of the police has had on citizens
The creation of the 1033 Program helped facilitate the continued war on drugs during the era of the crime bill
The coinciding of acquiring military equipment, but also more obviously adopting fascist attitudes that we also witness abroad, is what enables police to continue further militarization

Additional Stories:

(Banner Photo: Line of police officers with batons and camo. Photo courtesy of katesheets.)

The 1033 Monthly #4

October 20, 2021

Despite the increase of Black law enforcement agents over the years, the racist structure of law enforcement agencies in the United States has remained the same. As part of the continued effort to protect property and capital, we see an increase of funding of local and state police departments in cities where Black democrats are the mayors and chiefs of police.

It’s no coincidence that the government has decided to fund the police given the collective wealth of the ruling class has increased by 40% over the course of the pandemic. Meanwhile, many working class folks are being forced to risk their health to go back to work. Since January of this year, $77 million in military equipment has been sent to U.S. police departments across the country.

In order to understand the power and influence law enforcement has on politics today, we should look at police unions. Afterall, it was the National Association of Police Organizations who lobbied to secure an outcome that favored the police instead of tax paying citizens when Biden was expected to bring back the Obama administration’s reformist limitations on 1033 earlier this year. Additionally, last month The House had a chance to effectively end the 1033 program, but failed to do so.

Today, the Fraternal Order of Police remains one of the most powerful police unions in the country. Political candidates who run for public office have expressed a desire to be tough on crime in order to appease the police unions who contribute millions of dollars to their campaigns. Despite pushback from the public and attempts by local organizers to establish alternatives to policing, local elected officials have chosen instead to increase the already inflated police budgets. In the struggle to free political prisoners and prisoners of war, we must keep in mind the role that police unions play in keeping them incarcerated. An increase in spending on police inevitably means more funding for correctional facilities.

In solidarity,

Rhamier & Noah

1033 leads for the Research & Political Education Team

Lawmakers Take On Militarization of Police in Defense Budget Talks

Four Lawmakers have proposed NDAA amendments that would limit or end the Pentagon’s 1033 program.
Legislative efforts to end the program have been ineffective despite a majority of U.S. citizens supporting ending the program.
The withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan is expected to lead to a declaration of “excess” of 17,000 pieces of military equipment.
Police continue to add the cost and maintenance of this equipment to their budgets

Congress Has a Chance to Roll Back the Flow of Military Weapons to Police Departments

The more combat gear the police receive, the more violent they become.
Since the inception of the 1033 program, Police have received 70,000 firearms, 5,000 military vehicles and 358 aircraft.
The Cost of maintenance of these weapons, shipping, training and operations often fall on State and Local governments.
The number of U.S. citizens killed by police are on the rise.

Additional Stories:

Learn more about BAP’s work on the 1033 program by visiting the 1033 resources page.

The 1033 Monthly #3

September 16, 2021

International counterinsurgency has always informed U.S. domestic policy as well as counterintelligence within the United States. The FBI's counterintelligence program, or COINTELPRO, identified Black organizations, civil rights groups and more militant Black liberation organizations as "threats to the national security of the United States.” The response to this perceived threat was both political and military. Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams were developed in the late 1960s to meet the challenge of urban warfare the Black liberation movement was believed to represent. Today, the militarization of police agencies and the targeting of Black and other colonized peoples continues with programs like the U.S. Department of Defense’s 1033 program.

How 9/11 helped to militarize American law enforcement

Following the withdrawal of troops from U.S. imperialist efforts across the world, weapons and other military equipment make their way back to the United States through law enforcement
Almost 65 percent of 18,000 law enforcement agencies have received equipment through the 1033 program as of 2020
The 1122 program, related to the 1033 program, allows law enforcement agencies to use public funds to buy military equipment at discounted military rates
Militarization of police leads to further use of such equipment, yet departments are less likely to reduce crime and increase the public’s perception of safety

House Democrats to offer amendment to limit transfer of military-grade gear to police

Reps. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) are proposing an amendment in the next annual defense policy bill to the House Armed Services Committee
The amendment calls for prohibiting the Pentagon from “sending police departments controlled firearms, ammunition, bayonets, grenade launchers, grenades, including stun and flash-bang grenades, explosives, certain controlled vehicles including mine-resistant vehicles, armored or weaponized drones, combat-configured or combat-coded aircraft, silencers, and long-range acoustic devices.”
This amendment is no longer part of the recent police-reform legislation because it had been stalled, so they are hoping to see it addressed through the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)
It remains unclear why no clear call was made for the end of the whole 1033 program
No clear plan forward can be seen, but the Biden administration reportedly could be open to proposing executive action, given the failure to implement 1033 restrictions in police-reform bills introduced in Congress

Additional Stories:

Learn more about BAP’s work on the 1033 program by visiting the 1033 resources page.

Banner image: Heavily armed police officers facing off with protestors last year in downtown San Diego. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune)

The 1033 Monthly #2

August 5, 2021

“Surplus military equipment for law enforcement? They don’t need that,” U.S. President Joe Biden proclaimed in July 2020, at the height of rebellions that took place in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. Yet, despite that acknowledgement, Biden has failed to sign an executive order the White House prepared at the start of his term that would have limited the 1033 program. And despite calls from activists and members within his own party to limit or end the program, Biden has chosen to remain silent.

We must remember the first raid SWAT teams executed in the late 1960s against Black revolutionaries of the Black Panther Party in Los Angeles, which led to a number of violent encounters with party members. From the start, police militarization has always been about bloodshed and violence regardless of “criminal” evidence, or lack thereof. The so-called “War on Drugs” in the late 1980s was used to legitimize the need for a 1033 program, which was later revitalized in the late 1990s under the guise of “counterterrorism.” Both of these reasons have been used to brutalize, incarcerate, and kill poor and working-class African/Black and other colonized people. It is our duty as working-class Africans to oppose this war the police have brought to our doorsteps and demand an end to a program that largely terrorizes our communities and feeds mass incarceration.

In solidarity,
Rhamier & Noah
1033 leads in the Black Alliance for Peace’s Research & Political Education Team

New Documents Show Pentagon Rubber-Stamping Police Requests for Military Gear, The Huffington Post

The Huffington Post has exclusively received documents that law enforcement agencies sent to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) in 2017 and 2018 requesting armored vehicles. The most popular of these vehicles is the MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle. MRAPs were designed to protect U.S. troops in Afghanistan from IED explosions. Police often use these vehicles on U.S. streets to carry out search warrants, crack down on social justice protests and deliver civil lawsuits. The “you never know” logic is often deployed in these requests, which shows how broad the criteria is for requesting militarized equipment and how increasingly militarized the mindset of police has become.
8,000 law enforcement agencies participate in the 1033 program across the nation.
Law enforcement agencies in larger cities requested militarized equipment, notably MRAPs, by citing “dense urban areas,” while smaller locales claimed they needed it because their population is spread out.
More than 90 percent of SWAT raids in Maryland aimed at serving search warrants (based on a 2018 analysis). The same study showed SWAT teams neither reduce crime nor improve officer safety.
Law enforcement in Corsicana, Texas even went as far as to specifically ask for armored vehicles to police its poorer citizens.
“Safety equipment” is the catch-all term that pigs use in lieu of “military equipment” or “militarized equipment” that we advise people to look for

Joe Biden Could Easily Recall the Billions in Military Equipment Police Received From the Pentagon, Jacobin Magazine

Although congressional legislation is required to completely abolish the 1033 program, Biden could have reinstated Obama-era plans to return 126 tracked military vehicles and 138 grenade launchers by issuing an executive order.
Biden has not signed the order, nor spoken since being inaugurated about taking any steps to limit the 1033 program, which he had spoken directly in favor of during the summer of 2020.
The provisions within the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act that detail some restrictions in police militarization have stalled because the legislation has yet to make it through the U.S. Senate.

Additional Stories

Learn more about BAP’s work on the 1033 program by visiting the 1033 resources page.

Banner photo: The scene at protests in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after the killing of George Floyd in May 2020. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The 1033 Monthly #1

June 11, 2021

As a part of ongoing efforts by the 1033 subcommittee on the Research & Political Education Team, we plan to share developments with the membership on a consistent basis. As an explicitly anti-imperialist and anti-colonial organization, we know the same tactics and equipment used to attack our brothers, sisters and siblings abroad are the same used in our own communities. Through the 1033 program, military-grade weapons, stun grenades and other tactical gear is able to be transferred from the U.S. armed forces and into the hands of state and local law enforcement groups. As an organization that is campaigning to end the 1033 program, we believe it necessary to share ongoing developments about 1033 as a means to continue to inform our members of how this program’s efforts are developing. Starting from this Friday, we will be sending out a monthly newsletter breaking down some of the key news stories and updates surrounding the 1033 program. We hope this can help inform the membership of both how the program operates, but also, how it is taking shape in our respective communities. We will highlight two major developments, followed by a list of a few other stories separated by topics related to 1033. In this one, we highlight stories such as, BLM petitioning to end the 1033 program and the on-going advocacy efforts for the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act. We look forward to the ways the membership can use this information and incorporate it into organizing.

In solidarity,
Noah, Rhamier & Jordi
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free

Black Lives Matter Global Network announces petition to end the 1033 Program, Black Lives Matter Global Network

BLM GN published a statement on April 20th, 2021, advocating to end the 1033 Program
They framed the statement around the slogan of “demilitarizing our neighborhoods”
Like other work with BLM GN, it’s merely a call to action with no real context or specific points as to why ending 1033 is their policy plan, nor does it actually explain how they hope to organize around this issue

Continued advocacy for the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2021, The Nation

Representative Hank Johnson of Georgia and lawyer Yasmine Taeb’s piece in The Nation calls for support of the new Democrat legislation
This bill calls for limitations of the 1033 program but does not outright abolish the program itself
This opinion article lays out the recent efforts in the past year, including those calling for the end of 1033. However, they still stress the importance of the bipartisan support on this legislation

Federal Militarization of Law Enforcement Must End, ACLU

Since its inception in 1996, nearly 10,000 jurisdictions have received more than $7 billion of equipment. More than half of that was transferred in the last decade.
Due to slowing demobilization of war efforts, the quantity of military transfers to police departments have slowed. However, this has done little to keep military equipment out of the hands of law enforcement.
Despite Obama’s Executive Order 13688, which supposedly banned the Department of Defense (DoD) from transferring highly militarized equipment to law enforcement agencies, generalized descriptions of military equipment allowed law enforcement to circumvent this order through paperwork and new equipment from the military. The total number of militarized equipment recalled due to E.O. 13688 was less than a tenth of one percent of equipment in circulation.
There is no data that supports the propaganda the government puts forth that the 1033 program “reduces crime rate” or “reduces complaints against police officers”.
The Law Enforcement Supply Office, or LESO, publishes quarterly updates of 1033 equipment since 2014 which can be found here

Additional Stories

It’s Past Time To End The Federal Militarization of Police
War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Police(download 98-page ACLU report circa 2014 for reference)

Learn more about the 1033 program by visiting BAP’s 1033 resources page.

Banner photo: Police in riot gear mobilize during a standoff with protesters rallying for slain teenager Michael Brown on Monday in Ferguson, Missouri. (Charlie Riedel/AP)