Saturday, December 06, 2014 12:04:33 PM
The Pentagon Finally Details its Weapons-for-Cops Giveaway
Bellying up to the arsenal.
By Shawn Musgrave, Tom Meagher and Gabriel Dance
12.3.14 7:35 pm
Over 600 Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAP) have been distributed to agencies by the Department of Defense.
You may have heard that the image-conscious Los Angeles Unified School District chose to return the grenade launchers it received from the Defense Department’s surplus equipment program. You probably have not heard about some of the more obscure beneficiaries of the Pentagon giveaway:
* Police in Johnston, R.I., with a population less than 29,000, acquired two bomb disposal robots, 10 tactical trucks, 35 assault rifles, more than 100 infrared gun sights and two pairs of footwear designed to protect against explosive mines. The Johnson police department has 67 sworn officers.
* The parks division of Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources was given 20 M-16 rifles, while the fish and wildlife enforcement division obtained another 20 M-16s, plus eight M-14 rifles and ten .45-caliber automatic pistols.
* Campus police at the University of Louisiana, Monroe, received 12 M-16s to help protect the 8,811 students there (or perhaps to keep them in line).
* The warden service of Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife received a small aircraft, 96 night vision goggles, 67 gun sights and seven M-14 rifles.
For more than 20 years, the Pentagon program that distributes surplus weapons, aircraft and vehicles to police departments nationwide received little attention or scrutiny. Defense Department officials closely guarded the details of which agencies across the country received which items.
Then, events in Ferguson propelled the 1033 program, as the surplus distribution is called, into the public eye.
Flooded with calls for greater transparency, in late November, the Pentagon quietly released data that details all tactical equipment distributed through the program, and for the first time identified the agencies that received items. The data is a national gift list of high-caliber weapons, armored vehicles, aircraft and similar military equipment, all delivered for the price of shipping and often with little civilian oversight.
The program has doled out $5 billion in equipment since 1990. Most of it was general office and maintenance equipment – shovels, copiers, computers – but the Pentagon largesse included tactical military equipment worth more than $1.4 billion, disseminated in 203,000 transfers to about 7,500 agencies. Even after Ferguson, the program continues to chug along, transferring $28 million in tactical equipment in the past three months.
Total Value of Tactical Items Distributed by Department of Defense 1033 Program
Source: U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Logistics Agency, Disposition Services
The program came under scrutiny earlier this year due to reporting by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and others. The controversy intensified in August, after news coverage of protests in Ferguson flashed images around the world of heavily armed and armored police facing off with protesters. Police in Ferguson and St. Louis County had received tactical equipment through the 1033 program, including helicopters and trucks.
As recently as October, the department’s Defense Logistics Agency, which manages the equipment distribution effort, rejected Freedom of Information Act requests for a detailed accounting of what equipment has been given to whom. The agency provided only county-by-county information about the donations. Then, on Nov. 21, the Pentagon shifted course, posting the full details of the program with no announcement.
Few critics have taken issue with the recycling of general equipment, but many have raised concerns about local police agencies, including campus police, being armed with tactical equipment intended for combat on foreign soil.
We have created a tool that will allow you to quickly check the 1033 transfers to your local police or game warden. See below.
Here are a few items that caught our eye.
Campus Cops
Municipal police and county sheriffs’ departments comprise the majority of the agencies that receive equipment from the 1033 program, but they’re not the only ones. At least 17 school districts have been given hundreds of items.
In Los Angeles, for instance, the school district police department received a mine-resistant vehicle worth $730,000 in March, as well as three grenade launchers and more than 60 M-16s. After that was initially reported by MuckRock in September, the NAACP and other organizations called for a moratorium on the 1033 program, pending a review of agency eligibility. Facing community backlash, the Los Angeles district’s police chief indicated that he would keep the rifles but acknowledged armored vehicles and grenade launchers are not "'essential' piece[s] of equipment for our daily scope and mission." The school district said on Wednesday that it no longer owns the mine-resistant vehicle.
In Michigan, the Detroit Public Schools Police Department obtained six bomb disposal robots last year, in addition to three utility trucks in the last four years. The district police would not comment Wednesday on how they use the equipment and would only confirm via email their participation in the program.
More than 130 college and university police departments, from the Colorado School of Mines to Alabama A&M University, have received weaponry and equipment valued at more than $12 million.
The campus police at Southwest Virginia Community College were given a Humvee last year. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences received eight rifles and four shotguns. Florida International University got 50 M-16 rifles and a mine-resistant vehicle. Black River Technical College in Pocahontas, Ark. got a $5.3 million cargo plane and dozens of rifles and pistols.
Parks and Recreation
Continued below:
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2014/12/03/the-pentagon-finally-details-its-weapons-for-cops-giveaway
Bellying up to the arsenal.
By Shawn Musgrave, Tom Meagher and Gabriel Dance
12.3.14 7:35 pm
Over 600 Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAP) have been distributed to agencies by the Department of Defense.
You may have heard that the image-conscious Los Angeles Unified School District chose to return the grenade launchers it received from the Defense Department’s surplus equipment program. You probably have not heard about some of the more obscure beneficiaries of the Pentagon giveaway:
* Police in Johnston, R.I., with a population less than 29,000, acquired two bomb disposal robots, 10 tactical trucks, 35 assault rifles, more than 100 infrared gun sights and two pairs of footwear designed to protect against explosive mines. The Johnson police department has 67 sworn officers.
* The parks division of Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources was given 20 M-16 rifles, while the fish and wildlife enforcement division obtained another 20 M-16s, plus eight M-14 rifles and ten .45-caliber automatic pistols.
* Campus police at the University of Louisiana, Monroe, received 12 M-16s to help protect the 8,811 students there (or perhaps to keep them in line).
* The warden service of Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife received a small aircraft, 96 night vision goggles, 67 gun sights and seven M-14 rifles.
For more than 20 years, the Pentagon program that distributes surplus weapons, aircraft and vehicles to police departments nationwide received little attention or scrutiny. Defense Department officials closely guarded the details of which agencies across the country received which items.
Then, events in Ferguson propelled the 1033 program, as the surplus distribution is called, into the public eye.
Flooded with calls for greater transparency, in late November, the Pentagon quietly released data that details all tactical equipment distributed through the program, and for the first time identified the agencies that received items. The data is a national gift list of high-caliber weapons, armored vehicles, aircraft and similar military equipment, all delivered for the price of shipping and often with little civilian oversight.
The program has doled out $5 billion in equipment since 1990. Most of it was general office and maintenance equipment – shovels, copiers, computers – but the Pentagon largesse included tactical military equipment worth more than $1.4 billion, disseminated in 203,000 transfers to about 7,500 agencies. Even after Ferguson, the program continues to chug along, transferring $28 million in tactical equipment in the past three months.
Total Value of Tactical Items Distributed by Department of Defense 1033 Program
Source: U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Logistics Agency, Disposition Services
The program came under scrutiny earlier this year due to reporting by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and others. The controversy intensified in August, after news coverage of protests in Ferguson flashed images around the world of heavily armed and armored police facing off with protesters. Police in Ferguson and St. Louis County had received tactical equipment through the 1033 program, including helicopters and trucks.
As recently as October, the department’s Defense Logistics Agency, which manages the equipment distribution effort, rejected Freedom of Information Act requests for a detailed accounting of what equipment has been given to whom. The agency provided only county-by-county information about the donations. Then, on Nov. 21, the Pentagon shifted course, posting the full details of the program with no announcement.
Few critics have taken issue with the recycling of general equipment, but many have raised concerns about local police agencies, including campus police, being armed with tactical equipment intended for combat on foreign soil.
We have created a tool that will allow you to quickly check the 1033 transfers to your local police or game warden. See below.
Here are a few items that caught our eye.
Campus Cops
Municipal police and county sheriffs’ departments comprise the majority of the agencies that receive equipment from the 1033 program, but they’re not the only ones. At least 17 school districts have been given hundreds of items.
In Los Angeles, for instance, the school district police department received a mine-resistant vehicle worth $730,000 in March, as well as three grenade launchers and more than 60 M-16s. After that was initially reported by MuckRock in September, the NAACP and other organizations called for a moratorium on the 1033 program, pending a review of agency eligibility. Facing community backlash, the Los Angeles district’s police chief indicated that he would keep the rifles but acknowledged armored vehicles and grenade launchers are not "'essential' piece[s] of equipment for our daily scope and mission." The school district said on Wednesday that it no longer owns the mine-resistant vehicle.
In Michigan, the Detroit Public Schools Police Department obtained six bomb disposal robots last year, in addition to three utility trucks in the last four years. The district police would not comment Wednesday on how they use the equipment and would only confirm via email their participation in the program.
More than 130 college and university police departments, from the Colorado School of Mines to Alabama A&M University, have received weaponry and equipment valued at more than $12 million.
The campus police at Southwest Virginia Community College were given a Humvee last year. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences received eight rifles and four shotguns. Florida International University got 50 M-16 rifles and a mine-resistant vehicle. Black River Technical College in Pocahontas, Ark. got a $5.3 million cargo plane and dozens of rifles and pistols.
Parks and Recreation
Continued below:
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2014/12/03/the-pentagon-finally-details-its-weapons-for-cops-giveaway
Dan 
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