Politics Watch — March 14, 2009
Mo. law enforcement report causing controversy
A report released last month intended to help law enforcement officials better identify members of militias is causing a ruckus. See the Associated Press report and another from the Columbia Daily Tribune.
The report that's causing all the trouble, "The Modern Militia Movement", which can found here was released by the Missouri Information Analysis Center, a non-partisan governmental organization that compiles data on criminal justice, on Feb. 20.
The report contains a few different things that law enforcement officials should look for if they suspect someone is involved in militia activity, such as bumper stickers endorsing former presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tx., and belief in conspiracy theories such as government plan to form a North American Union with Canada and Mexico or that there is a Federal Emergency Management Agency concentration camp in Kansas City.
The report also contains a rundown of militia activity for the last few decades, and states that activity was at its peak in 1996, during the tenure of former President Bill Clinton. There has been a resurgence, the report states, of militia activity since the election of President Barack Obama.