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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

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)