Military arming of police plummets
Slump comes despite Trump order to send gear
The amount of surplus military equipment sent to local police departments across the nation has sharply declined despite an executive order President Trump signed that was intended to increase those transfers, a USA TODAY analysis has found.
Shipments of gear in the first three months of 2018 fell by half compared with the same period last year, Department of Defense data show. The amount of armored vehicles, high-caliber rifles and other equipment measured by dollar value also slid.
Trump’s executive order, signed last August, rescinded limits imposed on the program by the Obama administration after the battlefield-style response to the riots in Ferguson, Mo., in
2014. Some police officials said they are approaching the program cautiously despite robust support from Trump.
“If you have a long rifle or you have a military vehicle, it looks bad,” said Sgt. Stephen Wells, a spokesman for the Kern County Sheriff ’s Office in California, which ordered about 90 military items from the Pentagon in 2015 but only one last year. “We’re not an occupying force.”
Since 1991, the program has recycled about $6.8 billion in military equipment purchased by federal taxpayers.
It came under scrutiny amid the riots in Ferguson that followed the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by police. Images of officers wearing tactical gear standing alongside armored vehicles flashed across network news and drew bipartisan criticism in Congress.
In response, President Obama placed limits on some kinds of equipment in
2015. The show of force, Obama said, opened a rift between the police and the community at a time when both would have benefited from better relations.
But the Trump administration said the restrictions went too far, limiting police from obtaining equipment that could help them meet modern challenges. Trump’s order was touted at the time as a way to increase the flow of “lifesaving gear” to police. Announcing the order last year, Attorney General Jeff Sessions criticized Obama for the limits and vowed the Trump administration would not “put superficial concerns above public safety.”
The data show a bump in shipments in September, the month immediately following Trump’s action, but that appears to have been an anomaly. The average monthly value of gear shipped to local departments in 2016 was just over
$17 million. So far this year, the average monthly value stands at $5.2 million.
A White House spokeswoman referred questions to the Justice Department. A spokeswoman at Justice referred questions to the Defense Department.
Michelle McCaskill, a spokeswoman for the Defense Logistics Agency, which oversees the program, said this year’s decline is “likely due to those … items not being available.” She described the change ushered in by Trump’s executive order as “minimal.”
But while some police departments are more aware of the public relations concerns associated with the equipment, Wells and others suggested that local law enforcement is unlikely to abandon the program entirely. The equipment, he said, remains crucial for dangerous situations such as an active shooter.
By far the most common item transferred to police last year were military rifles, followed by weapon sights and night-vision goggles.
James Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, said he believes Trump’s order has put police across the nation in a stronger position. Both Trump and Sessions closely aligned with rank-and-file police during the presidential campaign.
Pasco speculated that the drop-off is a coincidence, though he acknowledged that some local political leaders have been reluctant to embrace the program with zeal.
“If there’s a spate of additional unrest, then I predict that there’ll be a greater demand,” he said.
Critics pounced on the program again last year when the Government Accountability Office created a fictitious agency and obtained more than 100 military items worth $1.2 million, including night-vision goggles and simulated pipe bombs.
USA TODAY’s analysis focused exclusively on equipment the Department of Defense altered, or “demilitarized,” before transferring it to a local government. That means rifles, armored trucks, night-vision sniper scopes and other war-fighting equipment was included, but not radios, boots and printers.
Rick Myers, executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, said he was not surprised Trump’s order didn’t result in a sustained increase in demand. The problem with the program isn’t the equipment, he said, but how some departments used it.
“Police chiefs across the country are a little more sensitive to the optics,” Myers said. “I think we’re just maybe a little smarter about it.”