A new report shows local police departments are increasingly armed with military weapons more suitable for war zones than the suburbs, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

The 96-page report - "War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing" - shows that from July 20, 2010, to Oct. 6, 2013, more than 20 law enforcement agencies deployed SWAT teams a combined 818 times.

"We found that police overwhelmingly use SWAT raids not for extreme emergencies like hostage situations but to carry out such basic police work as serving warrants or searching for a small amount of drugs," said Kara Dansky, senior counsel with the ACLU's Center for Justice.

"Carried out by 10 or more officers armed with assault rifles, flashbang grenades and battering rams, these paramilitary raids disproportionately impacted people of color, sending the clear message that the families being raided are the enemy. This unnecessary violence causes property damage, injury and death," she added.

Often the SWAT deployments include violent tactics and equipment including Armored Personnel Carriers (APC). In 62 percent of the cases, SWAT was deployed to execute a search warrant for drugs, and most affected by the deployments are communities of color. The report found 42 percent of communities where the raids took place were African-American, and 21 percent Latino. As these deployments involve people's homes, there have been injuries and property damage. Sometimes the raids are for as little as a $50 drug bust.

The report also shows how military weapons end up in the hands of local law enforcement. Department of Defense Program 1033 transferred weapons and vehicles to police departments for free, often weapons no longer used in war or stock overruns. In an interview with RT.com's Manila Chan, Elizabeth Beavers of the Friends Committee on National Legislation said, "These are reaching every state, all 50 states, four U.S. territories, almost $5 billion worth of equipment. We think no one is really safe from this."

Beavers added, "One of the troubling aspects of the program is there is not much oversight. Eleven departments in Indiana were suspended from the program because they couldn't account for the weapons. In North Carolina, a sheriff was found guilty of selling his on Ebay."

Members of Congress are seeking to introduce reforms, and unusually, there is bipartisan support for these measures.

U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) introduced legislation that would ban APCs, drones, MRAPS and assault weapons and require the Department of Defense to annually account for what materiel has been transferred and by whom.

U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT), who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, wants to cut funding from the program and further restrict regulatory agencies. The report shows that non-law-enforcement agencies like the Department of Education have paramilitary units for executing warrants.

Beavers said, "Over the last decade, we have seen unchecked weapons, unchecked war authority and unchecked funding, and Congress is now trying to return to a constitutional balance of powers."