A Louisiana sheriff has begun training 200 local volunteers in basic hand-to-hand combat techniques as part of
Project Exodus aimed at protecting the northwestern corner of the state from the danger of terrorists, the
Shreveport Times reports.
Reporter Drew Pierson writes that Bossier Parish Sheriff Larry Deen's policing plan involves "a mostly white group of ex-police volunteers and a .50-caliber machine gun" and was inspired in part from the Book of Exodus in the Bible.
"The buck stops with Larry Deen," the sheriff says,
according to the Times. "The liability stops with Larry Deen. I am the chief law enforcement officer in this parish, and it is incumbent upon me protect all of the people in it."
Deen rejects any notion that he is setting up a militia. "We run from that word," he says. "We're just the opposite that word."
Doyle Dempsey, chief deputy for support services, says in the training video that if the project is successful "we will be ahead of the curve when it comes to fighting Islamic extremists."
The volunteers will be equipped with shotguns, riot shields and batons, the newspaper says. A .50-caliber machine gun will be mounted on what the sheriff's office calls "the war wagon."
Five of the 200 volunteers are black, the
Times says. Women will be used only in a "support role," Deen says, indicating non-combat activity.
The teams of "highly trained volunteers" would be used to protect food, water, oil, gas and medical supplies in the event of a disaster, like Hurricane Katrina, in which state and federal resources are limited.
"We want to make sure that never happens here," he says.
He'd be great to record for an alarm clock.