Utah Republicans push to strip police powers from feds

Utah Republicans push to strip police powers from feds

Utah's four House Republicans introduced a bill Wednesday that would strip the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service of their power to police federal lands, and give that power over to local cops.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz and his three GOP colleagues from Utah introduced the Local Enforcement for Local Lands Act.

The lawmakers say the growth of police authorities in both agencies has distracted them from their main mission of managing federal land, and has created conflicts with local authorities. They also say federal agents are not as trusted as local police, and should be removed.

"Federal agencies do not enjoy the same level of trust and respect as local law enforcement that are deeply rooted in local communities," Chaffetz and other lawmakers said. "This legislation will help de-escalate conflicts between law enforcement and local residents while improving transparency and accountability."

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A simple common sense approach that resolves the problems at both levels of government (State/Federal) and attempts to restore the public trust with law enforcement.

Thoughts?

Let your Representatives know whether you support this bill or you don't.

a reply to: Xcathdra

Works for me, smaller govt. Was the BLM policing really necessary?

a reply to: Xcathdra

Good!

Now we need 49 other states to follow suit.

Disarm the Government not citizens.

a reply to: Xcathdra

This is just the Utah politicos pandering to the Cliven Bundy's to get the local "Constitutional Scholars" off their backs and will go nowhere. Who will pay for the extra police needed to patrol Federal lands? Think unfunded mandate. Will the local police also be required to police Native American reservations? That won't happen.

There are actual problems in the US and this is definitely not one of them.

originally posted by: Swills
a reply to: Xcathdra

Works for me, smaller govt. Was the BLM policing really necessary?

I think if you ask them they would say yes. It was a grey area since neither could enforce each others laws unless legislation / agreements allowed for it, and I dont think they do. I know the Mark Twain National forest thats in Missouri and Arkansas gives the respective agencies who patrol the forest jurisdiction in both states.

The flip side to the argument is you would be requiring local law enforcement, who does not have the budget of federal agencies, to become responsible for the added patrol area. I'm not sure if they would receive federal funding to account or not.

a reply to: pteridine

As I pointed out no idea on who pays. Keep in mind this bill only affects the 2 federal agencies. It says nothing about the FBI, who usually would be a lead agency for criminal investigations on Federal property.

Whatever the budget was for BLM police should be redistributed to the states that assume responsibility for Federal land.

As for the Bundy's I dont see how it would affect anything. The BLM would still oversee the lands while local law enforcement would enforce the law. The Bundys do not recognize the Federal government so this bill would change nothing for them.

Truth is the system is top heavy and its tottering...all kinds of distortions are not only possible but probable.....
Those that think government is their friend are fast becoming a small percentile of the citizens...
Dissatisfaction will widen gaps that are mere cracks at this point...the whole momentum is one of collapse.....
I don't know why this is but it is observable to those who are able to look from the outside in.....
And the momentum is accelerating.....

a reply to: bandersnatch

Which government?

Utah has dual sovereignty with the Federal Government within its borders, but I'm not sure there's any legal standing here to "strip" the Fed of anything, much less it's legal powers and property.

However, there's still the little problem of Article VI, Paragraph 2 of the US Constitution with the legislation ...

EDIT: Beg pardon, I misread the OP.

This seems to be mere political pandering on the part of Utah's US Congress Representatives. We'll see where the bill goes.

a reply to: Xcathdra

Makes sense to me. Go through all this trouble to move from one government agency to another. Funny how we can find mo money for mo government. But lets not call it that shhhh......