Open thread for night owls: Small towns add tons of military gear to their arsenals

At the Danger Room, Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai writes, Small-Town Cops Pile Up on Useless Military Gear:

The Nebraska State Patrol Light Armored Vehicle LAV 150
 (Public Information Office'€"Nebraska State Patrol) Small police departments across America are collecting battlefield-grade arsenals thanks to a program that allows them to get their hands on military surplus equipment ' amphibious tanks, night-vision goggles, and even barber chairs or underwear ' at virtually no cost, except for shipment and maintenance.

Over the last five years, the top 10 beneficiaries of this 'Department of Defense Excess Property Program' included small agencies such as the Fairmount Police Department. It serves 7,000 people in northern Georgia and received 17,145 items from the military. The cops in Issaquah, Washington, a town of 30,000 people, acquired more than 37,000 pieces of gear.

In 2011 alone, more than 700,000 items were transferred to police departments for a total value of $500 million. This year, as of May 15, police departments already acquired almost $400 million worth of stuff. Last year's record would have certainly been shattered if the Arizona Republic hadn't revealed in early May that a local police department used the program to stockpile equipment'and then sold the gear to others, something that is strictly forbidden. Three weeks after the revelation, the Pentagon decided to partly suspend distribution of surplus material until all agencies could put together an up-to-date inventory of all the stuff they got through the years. A second effort, which gives federal grants to police departments to purchase equipment, is still ongoing, however. According to the Center for Investigative Reporting, since 9/11, the grants have totaled $34 billion.

Which means billions of dollars' worth of military gear are in the hands of small-town cops who neither need the equipment nor are properly trained to use it, critics charge. At best, it's a waste of resources (since the gear still has to be maintained). At worst, it could cost lives.

The program was originally approved by Congress to help local law enforcement prosecute the government's insane war on drugs.

The Center for Investigative Reporting reported last week that the Pentagon will not reinstate the giveaway part of the program until local recipients prove they've adequately kept track of the matériel they have received.

California Watch reported in March that agencies in the state snatched up more surplus gear than any state in the 20-year history of the program. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department alone takes in $4 million to $5 million a year. So much, in fact, that it owns four semitrailers it uses to drive around the country picking it up.

 

High Impact Posts. Top Comments. Overnight News Digest.