JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES
THE SWAT-IFICATION
OF AMERICA
as Fargo, N.D.; Canyon County,
Idaho; and Tuscaloosa, Ala.
In the tiny town of Keene, N.H.,
the citizens protested plans to
purchase a Lenco Bearcat armored
personnel carrier with a DHS
grant. One resident told HuffPost
last year, “Keene is a beautiful
place. It’s gorgeous, and it’s safe,
and we love it here. We just don’t
want to live in the kind of place
where there’s an armored person-
HUFFINGTON
03.31.13
nel carrier parked outside of City
Hall ... It’s just not who we are.”
They succeeded only in delaying the purchase by a few
months. Keene now has a
Bearcat. To town officials, it was
a no-brainer. Keene was getting
a $400,000 vehicle from the
federal government, essentially
for free. Why wouldn’t it accept?
“From all indications, I would
think the DHS grants and increased federal funding could only
speed up the militarization process,” Kraska said. “And now you
A Miami
SWAT team
member
stands in front
of a home that
was raided
on Sep B