Law enforcementObama halts transfers of military equipment to local police departments

Since Congress launched the 1033 Program in 1997 to make military equipment that the Pentagon no longer wants available to state and local police. About $4.3 billion worth of equipment has been distributed. The 1033 Program and other programs which allocate weapons from federal agencies to local law enforcement recently came under fire with the appearance of heavily armored vehicles and police clad in military-grade body armor during last summer’s protests in Ferguson, Missouri after the police shooting of eighteen-year-old Michael Brown.

The White House soon called for a review of federal programs that provide military-grade equipment to local police. “There is a big difference between our military and our local law enforcement and we don’t want those lines blurred,” President Barack Obama said last August. The White House review showed that between FY2009 and FY 2014, five federal agencies spent $18 billion on programs that provided equipment including 92,442 small arms, 44,275 night-vision devices, 5,235 Humvees, 617 mine-resistant vehicles, and 616 aircraft to local law enforcement agencies.

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See also:

Growing unease about local police agencies employing military gear, 27 March 2015

Obama orders review of transferring military gear to local police, 28 August 2014

The militarization of local police, 15 August 2014

Pentagon’s excess equipment makes local police resemble military units, 20 June 2014

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Despite the report, in December 2014 Obama said he would maintain the 1033 Program and others like it because of their broader contribution to public safety. The White House pointed to the successful use of federally allocated military equipment during the police response to the Boston Marathon bombing. A senior Obama administration official also said at the time that the White House did not have authority to stop equipment transfers. “Those are programs that Congress directed the agencies to implement,” the official said.

The Washington Post reports that community leaders, nevertheless, called for an overhaul of the programs, and in response, Obama tasked a working group to recommend reforms to the 1033 Program and similar initiatives.

Based on that working group’s report, the White House announced yesterday that it will ban federal transfers of tracked armored vehicles, bayonets, grenade launchers, ammunition of .50-caliber or higher, and some types of camouflage uniforms to local police departments. Other equipment, including tactical vehicles, explosives, and riot equipment, will be transferred only if local police provide a “clear and persuasive explanation” for the need of the equipment and get approval from their local government.

The White House working group found “the substantial risk of misusing or overusing these items, which are seen as militaristic in nature, could significantly undermine community trust and may encourage tactics and behaviors that are inconsistent with the premise of civilian law enforcement.” Community members “have voiced concerns about what has been described as the ‘militarization’ of law enforcement due to the types of equipment” that is deployed, the report added.

The ban on some military gear will take effect immediately, while the restrictions on other items will be phased in so that local law enforcement agencies can be briefed about the new requirements. “The idea is to make sure we strike the right balance of providing equipment that is appropriate and important, while at the same time put standards in place that give a clear reason for the transfer of that equipment, with clear training and safety provisions in place,” Cecilia Muñoz, the White House director of domestic policy, told reporters in a conference call.