McCaskill to Lead Hearing on Militarization of Local Police Departments After Ferguson Violence
Senator, Chairman of Subcommittee on Financial & Contracting Oversight, will hold September hearing
Washington, D.C. – Following the fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Mo. police officer, and subsequent clashes between local police and protesters, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill will lead a Senate hearing to examine the militarization of state and local police departments.
McCaskill’s hearing will begin at 10:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, September 9 in Dirksen Senate Office Building, SD-342.
Specifically, McCaskill—Chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial & Contracting Oversight— will use the hearing to examine federal programs that enable local police departments to acquire military equipment, such as the Defense Department’s 1033 program for surplus property and grants made through the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. She plans to gather stakeholders from all sides in order to hear several perspectives, including those of local law enforcement.
Amid confrontations between police and protesters, McCaskill called for local authorities in Ferguson to “de-militarize” the situation. She has since spoken directly to President Obama, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and Molly Moran, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice, on the status of the federal civil rights investigation. McCaskill has also been in constant contact with dozens of local officials, law enforcement, and religious leaders, to deescalate the situation on the ground in Ferguson.
McCaskill will lead the hearing in the full Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Oversight of Federal Programs for Equipping State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
Tuesday, September 9, 10:30 a.m. ET
Dirksen Senate Office Building, SD-342