Grenade launchers, anyone?

Some police ready for new chance at military equipment

Up for grabs are grenade launchers and high-caliber weapons. And South Florida’s smallest police departments are the most likely to benefit from a newly revived federal program that gives agencies stronger firepower.

While some of the larger and more well-funded agencies, such as the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and Miami-Dade Police, don’t use the program, police in North Miami and the town of Palm Beach say they use it to buy gear their budgets wouldn’t normally be able to cover.

“We’re budget conscious,” said Kirk Blouin, director of public safety for Palm Beach. “If I can get it on the cheap, we’ll certainly look at what’s available.”

An executive order President Donald Trump signed in late August repeals Obama-era limitations on police agencies’ access to camouflage uniforms, bulletproof vests, riot shields, racked armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft and vehicles, firearms and ammunition of .50-caliber or greater to police.

The policy change is another way in which Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions are enacting a lawand-order agenda that sees federal support of local police as key to driving down violent crime.

Law enforcement agencies that use the program comb a database of surplus military equipment and purchase it for a fraction of the original price. For example, North Miami Beach bought a mine-resistant armored vehicle (known as an MRAP) originally valued at more than $700,000 for less than $1,000.

Other gear local departments have purchased over the years includes:

Fort Lauderdale’s purchase of Humvees (purchased for its SWAT prior to the ban)

Delray Beach’s purchase

of patrol rifles, M14s (for the Honor Guard, rifle optics, hand guards and an armored vehicle.

Palm Beach’s purchase of a Humvee, military surplus truck and assault rifles.

Sweetwater Police Department’s purchase of assault rifles, grenade launchers, an armored vehicle and observation helicopter.

Blouin said the changes were a “very positive thing” for police departments.

However, law enforcement agencies should consider the public’s perception about the militarization of police, he said.

“I’m not suggesting that police officers have rifles strapped to their backs, I think there would be a bad message in that and I would speak against that, but if the equipment is used appropriately it could assist in a public purpose,” Blouin said.

Obama issued an executive order in 2015 that severely limited the program, partly triggered by public outrage over the use of military gear during protests in Ferguson, Mo., after the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Police responded in riot gear and deployed tear gas, dogs and armored vehicles.

Congress authorized the Pentagon program in 1990, allowing police to receive surplus equipment to help fight drugs, which then gave way to the fight against terrorism.

As of December, the federal agency overseeing the program had recalled at least 100 grenade launchers, more than 1,600 bayonets and 126 tracked vehicles — those that run on continuous, tanklike tracks instead of wheels — that were provided through the program.

North Miami Beach Police Department was among those agencies that returned a tracked armored personnel carrier, but they were happy to get rid of it, said Sgt. Lino Diaz, a spokesman for North Miami Police.

“It was sitting under a mound of fallen leaves,” he said.

North Miami, Delray and Palm Beach say they’ve mostly used their equipment to save lives.

Palm Beach Police used their “storm trucks” to save 50 to 60 people during a storm a few years ago, Blouin said.

North Miami Police used their armored vehicle to climb over downed trees and power lines, clear debris and rescue people during a storm last February.

“That was the only vehicle that could navigate through there with no issues,” Diaz said.

But the vehicles have also been used to help protect law enforcement.

Last February, Diaz was shot in the arm and leg while serving a warrant, he said.

“After I was injured, our SWAT team retreated and used this vehicle as cover where we formulated a plan in order to safely apprehend the people inside,” Diaz said.

RANDY VAZQUEZ/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER People came together in Delray Beach last week to paddle in honor of Sean Ace O’Connor, who was killed last month. O’Connor has been very successful in sales and marketing, grew a company from scratch to over a million dollars in revenue in two years,...

AP PHOTO An executive order President Donald Trump signed in late August repeals Obama-era limitations on police agencies’ access to armored vehicles.