house Bill H.R. 4401
Should Homeland Security Train Local Partners to Identify and Counter Violent Extremism?
Argument in favor
The Dept. of Homeland Security has a responsibility to train its state, local, tribal, and territorial partner agencies to identify and counter violent extremism in their communities.
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02/27/2016
So long as the focus is extremism in general and not just Muslims this sounds reasonable.
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02/29/2016
Not every jurisdiction has to face such threats on a consistent basis so they don't regularly train for it. Being prepared hurts no one, being unprepared can be tragic.
Argument opposed
Non-federal law enforcement personnel already receive ample training in recognizing and countering violent extremism, they don’t need DHS to tell them what they know.
02/27/2016
No! I do not like the sounds of DHS backdooring into local law enforcement agencies and deciding who might have the proper security clearance to work with them. All 50 states, or 57 if you prefer the Presidents count, have established procedures to handle civil disturbances. We DO NOT need a federal police force.
02/29/2016
Just another way for the Feds to increase their police force. There are ample private security organizations that can do the training. The Federal Government keeps the yelling "More money equals better security.
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03/05/2016
Who bloody cares? I am tired of politicians trying to scare me to death! I refuse to acquiesce to the taking of every freedom for the illusion of safety!!
So long as the focus is extremism in general and not just Muslims this sounds reasonable.
No! I do not like the sounds of DHS backdooring into local law enforcement agencies and deciding who might have the proper security clearance to work with them. All 50 states, or 57 if you prefer the Presidents count, have established procedures to handle civil disturbances. We DO NOT need a federal police force.
Just another way for the Feds to increase their police force. There are ample private security organizations that can do the training. The Federal Government keeps the yelling "More money equals better security.
Who bloody cares? I am tired of politicians trying to scare me to death! I refuse to acquiesce to the taking of every freedom for the illusion of safety!!
Not every jurisdiction has to face such threats on a consistent basis so they don't regularly train for it. Being prepared hurts no one, being unprepared can be tragic.
Homeland security has failed and is no longer a useful entity. It needs to be done away with
So we're going to take money away from the Department of Homeland Security to train states and provide security level clearances local officers. I'd like to know what programs are going to be underfunded because we're involving ourselves in local law enforcement instead of the objective of the department. let's let the states request this training where they feel it's needed.
This just seems like a no brainer. The DEA is a federal agency specialized in drugs however hat doesn't stop us from training all the local agencies and players to identify and deal with drugs.... Why should it be any different with anti terrorism?
Yeah. I say this often but if we just try to help other countries out with their problems and not try and enforce our own ideas, cooperation could be encouraged world wide.
Same movie different scene! All I can think at this point is why people continually get scared of everything! When did American society become such a nation of such weak minded, blind, and so prone to propagandist rhetoric. This is the home of the brave, not the home of slaves! Grow up and stop watching tv. Do some research for yourself. Besides we all be gone from this earth, I refuse to live in fear! Stop listening to everything to the propaganda and demand your representatives tell us all the truth in detail. All of it not some of the truth. You politicians work for us
I don't really trust cops so I can't condone training them MORE to counter "violent extremists" if they're just gonna end up killing more brown people in the name of the law.
Violent extremism is fairly easily recognized by most, the last thing we need to do is further militarize the police force in this country.
Police abuse is already a big problem; giving local police more power and more space to abuse would only lead to more problems.
Why expand a program that encroaches enough on local and state and often is ineffective in its own mandate
I wonder where the funds would come for this training. Isn't DHS required to share available info with local law enforcement any way? Do we really believe that incidents like the tragedy in San Bernadino could be prevented by training locals to spot terrorists? Spotting cells of terrorists is the purview of the Feds. Locals already have full time jobs.
Being preemptive is key to stopping terrorism. Calling out homeland security after the fact isn't as efficient as resolving the situation before a terrorist attack happens, which is easier if local police have the ability to do so.