1033 Program Pros And Cons

The police force we all know has one main focus, to protect people and the property in which they stand. Patrolling the areas in which they are assigned to, they make sure civilians follow the law and they handle any breakage of the law as well. Our police force is supposed to make us feel safe wherever we are. They have undoubtedly done a great job in doing so. However, over the past couple of years, the police force has taken a toll for the worse. With topics such as police brutality and police militarization being bigger then it has ever been before, the amount of money the police actually have comes into question. What exactly do they spend all the money they do have on? Most of it goes towards unnecessary military equipment. Non-effective

The 1033 program is a program that allows the Secretary of Defense to transfer money, supplies and equipment to state and local law enforcement agencies. According to Christopher Ingraham, the 1033 program has transferred more than $4.3 billion in equipment since its inception in 1997. That is an average of around $240 million dollars per year to present day since the program has been introduced. Some may say that 240 million dollars is not that much money for supplies distributed to every local and state agency across the country. However, most of this money was used in recent years. In 2013 alone, the program gave nearly half a billion dollars worth of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies. Surprisingly, only $1.3 million was used to train recruits in the police academies. Perhaps if more money was spent on the training of our officers, big issues such as excessive force and brutality by police officers wouldn’t be so big after

Police brutality has been occurring since the idea of a police officer was first brought up. Officers have found many holes through the law enforcement system. This brings upon many types of misconduct and excessive force. Unfortunately, police officers are not usually held accountable for their brutality. “The Incentive Program, or the method of police chiefs using promises of contraband going to sub-departments that lack the money in the budget, gives officers more incentive to not only plant evidence to make an entire estate contraband, but it also lets them rationalize lining their own pockets” (White). In other words, incentives come with good behavior. If there is no incentive, there is no incentive for good behavior, leading to police misconduct. When it comes to police brutality cases, the cost of these actual cases come out of the taxpayers money, not even the police department. This is unbelievable because it doesn’t allow police officers to be accountable for their