Military to Collaborate with Wyoming Cops in Drunk Driving Crackdown -
The Department of Justice will work with authorities in Wyoming to violate what remains of Posse Comitatus, according to the Star-Tribune.
“In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, F.E. Warren Air Force Base will collaborate with state and local governments and law enforcement to cut down on underage and irresponsible drinking,” the newspaper reported earlier this week. “State, local and military police will also work together under the program to crack down on drunk people who disobey the law.”
The Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs provided funding for the three-year project, estimated to cost $300,000-per-year.
The Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C. § 1385), passed on June 18, 1878, following the end of Reconstruction, restricts the federal government from using the military in state and local law enforcement. The statute specifically prohibits the Army and Air Force and units of the National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity.
“Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both,” 18 U.S.C. § 1385 states.
In 2006, following Hurricane Katrina, Bush urged Congress to pass legislation overriding Posse Comitatus. The result was the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007. It allowed the federal government to use the armed forces to “restore public order and enforce the laws of the United States” during national emergencies such natural disasters.
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