When the Levee Breaks: Saginaw City Council Attempts to Solve Racism/White Supremacy Issue with New Police Equipment

From [HERE] Before a group of 5 white Saginaw police officers shot and killed a homeless Black man staggering around with a knife in his hand on July 1, officers made attempts to retrieve a "bean bag gun" that was later found to be locked in a place no one at the station could access. Instead officers fatally shot Milton Hall with a reported 46 shots in a five-second hail of bullets. [MORE] 

More than four months after that incident, Saginaw City Council (in photo, a group of white folks) at its Monday, Nov. 19, meeting approved the purchase of three such "projectile launcher" weapons, which will be stored inside vehicles driven by the department's supervisors. Assistant City Manager for Public Safety Phil Ludos said the police department was considering such a purchase before the July 1 shooting of Milton Hall. "Clearly the Hall incident was the impetus to get it moving forward," Ludos said.

All council members present voted in favor of the $5,052 expenditure, which will buy the department three 37 mm, multi-role , two-shot over/under projectile launchers from Sage Control Ordnance in Oscoda. Ludos explained that the weapon, essentially a shotgun that fires both gas canisters and "less-lethal" ordnance at lower velocities than bullets. The idea, he said, is to give officers another way to disarm and disable a subject.

Such measures are like using a mop to clean up a levee break. The issue here is not faulty equiptment- it is white supremacy/racism [MORE]; white prosecutors upheld the decision of white police officers to murder a black man in broad daylight - the white media remains quiet and white citizens in Saginaw support the killing. [MORE] and [MORE]. Think about it, how many white people have been killed like Milton Hall by Black officers? How many unarmed white people have been killed by Black officers in the history of law enforcement? None. [MORE] 

Ludos explained that the weapon, essentially a shotgun that fires both gas canisters and "less-lethal" ordnance at lower velocities than bullets. The idea, he said, is to give officers another way to disarm and disable a subject.

"It's a stunning effect," Ludos said. "This is just one more tool for us."

One limit of a Taser-style weapon, he said, is that it needs to be used within an about 15-foot radius. The projectile launchers, Ludos said, can be effective at ranges closer to 75 feet.

Saginaw Police Department had three such weapons at one time in the past, he said, but traded away all but one. That single weapon is kept behind lock and key and can only be accessed by a member of the city's SWAT team, Ludos said.

He said a purchase order will be put in immediately and the equipment should arrive within 30 days. Training officers to use the new weapon, Ludos said, will likely take another 30 days.

That said, he said he hoped the new equipment would be going into service by the end of the year.

The cost of the purchase is completely covered by the police department's drug forfeiture fund, Ludos said.

City council Monday also approved the $38,270 purchase of a 2013 Ford Utility Police Interceptor vehicle for police supervisors, which will replace a patrol vehicle from the fleet that was severely damaged in a June 2012 crash.

The majority of that purchase, $25,000, will be covered by the city's Justice Assistance Grant allocation. The remainder of the funds will come from the department's forfeiture fund.