The recent uproar over
armed EPA agents descending on a tiny Alaska mining town is shedding light on
the fact that 40 federal agencies – including nearly a dozen typically not
associated with law enforcement -- have armed divisions.
The agencies employ about
120,000 full-time officers authorized to carry guns and make arrests, according
to a June 2012 Justice Department
report……The incident that sparked
the renewed interest and concern occurred in late August when a team of armed
federal and state officials descended on the tiny Alaska gold mining town of
Chicken, Alaska.
The Environmental
Protection Agency, whose armed agents in full body armor participated,
acknowledged taking part in the Alaska Environmental Crimes Task Force
investigation, which it said was conducted to look for possible violations of
the Clean Water Act. However, EPA
officials denied the operation was a “raid” and didn't address speculation
about whether it was connected to possible human and drug trafficking….. Murkowski
said purported concerns about rampant drug and human trafficking in the area
sounded “wholly concocted” to her.
“This seems to have been a
heavy-handed and heavy-armor approach. Why was it so confrontational? The EPA
really didn’t have any good answers for this,” she told the newspaper…..To ReadMore….
My Take - Can you just imagine the reaction of the founding fathers over this?
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