A Marine combat unit will be “practicing” urban warfare on the streets of Newport News, Virginia.

Newport News will be invaded later this month, so residents shouldn’t be shocked to see a Humvee or two go past with weapons sticking out.

Or a big truck with men in uniforms.

Relax.

They’re on your side.

The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is coming to Hampton Roads for training between Feb. 27 and March 12 in anticipation for deployment, probably to the Middle East.

“The largest part of the combat unit, the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, will be at Fort Eustis,” said Capt. David Nevers on Thursday. “Part of their training is in urban warfare, so people shouldn’t be surprised to see a vehicle go by their houses or a helicopter fly overhead.”

Urban warfare training can include running vehicle checkpoints and patrolling neighborhoods.

And what if they find someone committing a crime while patroling neighborhoods and searching cars? Can they then arrest them? Apprehend them? Shoot them?

Sounds an awful lot like a violation of at least the spirit of the Posse Comitatus Act, if not the letter.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2006 at 11:33 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Police Militarization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.