Trump rolling back limits on military gear for police
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President Donald Trump will revive a program that provides local police departments with surplus military equipment such as high-caliber weapons and grenade launchers, despite past concerns that armored vehicles and other gear were inflaming confrontations with protesters.
Trump plans to sign an order undoing an Obama administration directive that limited police agencies' access to camouflage uniforms, bullet-proof vests, riot shields, firearms, ammunition and other items. Attorney General Jeff Sessions planned to make the announcement Monday at a national convention of the Fraternal Order of Police, one of the groups that had long urged Trump to revive the military program.
Trump's new order would fully restore the program under which "assets that would otherwise be scrapped can be repurposed to help state, local, and tribal law enforcement better protect public safety and reduce crime," according to the documents.
