“Thanks, but no thanks.”
So says Michigan State Representative Tom McMillin to President Barack Obama.
In response to the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and its aftermath, and then the non-indictment of the officer involved, and its aftermath, President Obama requested that Congress fund a new $263 million Justice Department spending package. Part of the spending, a total of $75 million, would put federal dollars toward outfitting 50,000 local policemen with body cameras.
Rep. Tom McMillin, a Rochester Hills Republican, has introduced House Bill 5970 to require all gun-toting state and local police in Michigan to wear body cameras. The legislation would mandate that video footage be destroyed within weeks except in cases where police use force, make an arrest, a complaint is filed or a request is made by a citizen.
McMillin thanks Obama for supporting the idea of body cameras, but the state rep argues that “providing body cameras to state and local police officers in Michigan isn’t a proper role of the federal government,” adding: “We could figure out how to pay for it here in Michigan.”
“Frankly, the feds have put me and my kids in enough debt,” he says, “I wouldn’t want them adding to it.”
Great point. Plus, the federal government really doesn’t have to pay for every single thing that happens in this world.
I’ve advocated the cameras, calling them “justice vision.” Where tried, the video system has served to protect citizens and police and improve public confidence.
But doing the right thing in our hometowns doesn’t require a Washington bribe.
That’s Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
4 replies on “Keep Your Money”
How brave to resist the sirens’ call of “free money”. We need more like him.
When they find out that the cameras provide footage that doesn’t support the lib/prog agenda, they will restrict public access to the video results.
Good for Rep McMillian. I’m fed up with the feds taking billions of dollars from the states, then giving some of it back with strings attached, then borrowing still more to bribe the states. So far as the cameras are concerned, my belief is they will protect the police from false accusations far more than convict them for wrong doing. Not only that, I doubt the vast majority of cops would discharge their weapon in the line of duty if avoidable, simply due to the grief they go through for doing so, even when they’re right. But I agree, the local entities should fund their own cameras since the cost of anything is always inflated for anything the feds fund.
I am much more worried about the strings the Feds would attach to this “gift”. Federalizing the local police is not my idea of good public policy.
Equally important is that it is time for all to recognize what Rep. McMillian already knows, there is no free lunch.
Like it or lump it, the taxpayer will have to (and should) pay this bill. Getting money from Washington only means Washington will have to take it from the taxpayers. There is no need for the Federal middlemen and its additional overheads.