CBS News has found fifty instances of Police running illegal arms dealing side hustles.
I thought that Police people looking to earn a little extra cash worked as security guards for concerts and events or did something other than turning to crime. I also thought Police felt threatened by the incredible weapons criminals could get a hold of while they were limited to pistols, and thus, the rise of SWAT-style units and military hardware in their hands. It seems they are supplying guns to the bad guys.
A CBS News investigation found dozens of law enforcement leaders — sheriffs, captains, lieutenants, chiefs of police — buying and illegally selling firearms, even weapons of war, across 23 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., from the Deep South to the Midwest, Northeast and California coast.
A nationwide review of government audits and court records over the last 20 years uncovered at least 50 cases of police illegally selling their weapons online, through dealers, out of their homes or the back of their cars. In many cases, the weapons were sold to gun enthusiasts, often at steep markups as high as 10 times what they were bought for.
In several cases, the guns wound up in the hands of violent felons and were used to commit crimes including drug trafficking, international arms dealing and, in one case, the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy attending a high school football game.
CBS News
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Previously:
• U.S. policing budgets would rank as the world's third-highest military expenditure
