US President Donald Trump’s decision to reverse a ban on equipping police with military gear will “subsidize militarization” of the force, Republican Senator Rand Paul says.
“The militarization of our law enforcement is due to an unprecedented expansion of government power in this realm,” Paul wrote in a tweet on Monday.
“Americans must never sacrifice their liberty for an illusive and dangerous, or false, security,” he continued.
Earlier in the day, Trump signed an executive order to undo former President Barack Obama’s ban on the transfer of some surplus military equipment to police departments.
Obama blocked the program in May 2015, amid outcry over police’s battlefield-style response to rioting in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri.
Before the new directive’s announcement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions told the Fraternal Order of Police that the aim was to enhance public safety by providing police with…