[Peace-discuss] Posse Comitatus Act & Militarizatiion of Police

[Karen Aram]

Tuesday on the AOTA program, I referred to a law that prevents the military from "controlling our streets", "control" that is meant for police or national guard. I couldn't remember the Latin name.
This is in no way affiliated with the right wing vigilante group who in 1969 took the same name.
 
It is as above Posse Comitatus, and was initially enacted at the end of reconstruction. Please see below a brief description by Wikipedia.
 
I raise this issue because I would think it should also apply to the militarization of our police departments when we supply them with military equipment, weapons and training to control our streets. Just a thought, and maybe a stretch. 
 
A lawyer would be able to ascertain whether it could be used to challenge what is happening to police departments across the nation. 
 
  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia     
         This article is about the Posse Comitatus Act in the United States.  For other uses of posse comitatus, see Posse comitatus.The Posse Comitatus Act is the United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385, original at 20 Stat. 152) that was passed on June 18, 1878, after the end of Reconstruction and was updated in 1981. The purpose of the act (in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807) is to limit the powers of Federal government in using its military personnel to enforce the state laws.
The Act does not apply to the Army and Air National Guard under state authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within its home state or in an adjacent state if invited by that state's governor. The United States Coast Guard, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security, is not covered by the Posse Comitatus Act either, primarily because although the Coast Guard is an armed service, it also has both a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency mission. While the Act does not explicitly mention the naval services (United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps), the Department of the Navy has prescribed regulations that are generally construed to give the Act force with respect to those services as well.
 		 	   		  
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