Across the country, local and university police forces now have access to surplus military equipment through the Defense Department’s Excess Property, or “1033” program. Originally created to combat high crime and drug violence in the 1990s, according to Alicia Parlapiano from the New York Times, now more than $5 billion worth of equipment has been allocated to local police forces since the program started. According to the Department of Defense, since only 2006, the program has given 432 Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected armored vehicles, 44,900 night vision pieces, 180,718 magazines, 93,763 machine guns as well as 435 other armored vehicles to police forces.
In the North Country, Jefferson County has the program to thank for the use of its own Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, or MRAP, which cost around $500,000 to make. According to David Welna, from National Public Radio, the vehicles were specifically designed to withstand grenades and bombs, and were largely deployed in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. In the past year alone, the federal government has given over 600 MRAPs to local police forces.
In New York State, 15 counties have access to surplus military armed vehicles to help combat crime, including 8 MRAP (Mine-resistant, Ambush-protected) armored vehicles. This includes Jefferson, adjacent to our very own St. Lawrence County. Counties in nearby New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont have also acquired military surplus grenade launchers much of the military equipment allotted through the 1033 program comes with the important restriction that it must be used within the year if force wants to continue to have access to it. This incentive has proven effective in motivating local and university police to make use of the equipment.“[The MRAP] is armored. It’s heavy. It’s intimidating. And it’s free,” said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple.
Organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union are wary of the increasing militarization of local police forces. According to a yearlong investigation done by the ACLU, of more than 800 paramilitary raids that were studied, 80 percent were for ordinary law enforcement purposes such as search warrants on people’s homes. Only 7 percent were for genuine emergencies. The organization also found that these police raids, disproportionately affected people of color. In the wake of outcries over excessive military force in the Ferguson, MO protests, President Obama ordered a review of the federal programs that supply military equipment to municipal police forces in August. Actual policy changes have yet to be made.