Since 2006, law enforcement agencies in Bristol County have acquired more than $3 million in surplus equipment from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Since 2006, law enforcement agencies in Bristol County have acquired more than $3 million in surplus equipment from the U.S. Department of Defense.



Public records show that Bristol County acquired the most military equipment of any other Massachusetts county in that time. Items the agencies acquired include at least 85 M-16 rifles, as well as other military-grade rifles, Humvees, night vision goggles, three mine-detecting kits, a mine-resistant armored vehicle, ballistic vests and armored helmets.



Local police departments in Southeastern Massachusetts have also obtained more mundane equipment such as office furniture, laptop computers, digital cameras, filing cabinets, auto mechanic tools and generators.



"The 1033 program has provided a lot of police departments with equipment that the taxpayers couldn't afford or provide," Freetown Police Chief Carlton E. Abbott said in referring to the Department of Defense Excess Property Program, which has given out $5.1 billion worth of surplus equipment since 1990.



Police departments have also obtained military-grade equipment through grant programs run by the U.S. departments of Homeland Security and Justice, which have all come under renewed scrutiny as images of police officers wearing combat fatigues and Kevlar helmets, sitting atop armored personnel carriers and pointing sniper rifles at protestors in Ferguson, Missouri, have flooded national news outlets and social media feeds.



The images are fueling a national debate about whether police officers are becoming too "militarized."



"Maybe I'm old school, but I prefer traditional police uniforms rather than the battle dress uniforms and all the military garb. The threshold issue is about how the public perceives the police. At least that's how I look at it," said Abbott, whose department has obtained four Humvees — two are used for spare parts — that police officers have used to evacuate people from flooded areas and to rescue those lost in the Freetown State Forest.



The Westport, Fall River and Swansea police departments have also acquired Humvees to reach people stranded in isolated areas during blizzards and major floods. Those departments, like most police agencies across the country, are not using Humvees for regular neighborhood patrols.



"The real issue is how much of this equipment is making its way into the everyday practice of policing, and that's going to vary. None of this is new, but if you start seeing this equipment and tactics being part and parcel of the everyday policing of our towns, then I would find that to be absolutely disturbing," said Mitchell Librett, a criminal justice professor at Bridgewater State University.



Librett said surplus military equipment, including rifles and machine guns, has long been distributed to law enforcement agencies after conflicts dating back to World War I, when even civilians for a time could buy Thompson submachine guns — "Tommy Guns" — in regular gun stores.



"The larger the war, the more of this stuff becomes available," Librett said.



Congress created the 1033 military-transfer program during the height of the drug war in the early 1990s, when police felt outgunned by the gangs. Now almost 13 years into the "War on Terrorism," with related U.S. military combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has more combat equipment than ever to give away.



"I would rather have the equipment and never need it, than to need it and never have it," said New Bedford Police Chief David Provencher, whose department requested, and received, 50 5.56-caliber, M-16-style rifles in 2013. Provencher said the department obtained those weapons for its Special Reaction Team, akin to a traditional SWAT team that responds to high-crisis situations like barricaded suspects and active shooters.



Provencher said the New Bedford Police Department also obtained an armored vehicle this year. Massachusetts State Police personnel used the same type of vehicle last year in New Bedford to safely end a standoff with an armed suspect who had barricaded himself in a Phillips Road condominium complex.



"On any given day, the possibility exists in an urban environment where we could be confronted with a situation that requires us to face a large amount of firepower, and that requires special tactics and equipment to negate the threat," Provencher said. "The onus is on us in leadership positions to provide an adequate deterrent, preventive measures and response to that threat."



Public records provided by the Massachusetts State Police — the state coordinator of the 1033 Program — show that several town police departments have requested military-grade weapons. The Swansea Police Department obtained six 5.56-caliber rifles — similar to an M-16 — in 2013. The Somerset Police Department requested 14 7.62-caliber rifles last year.



Somerset police officials did not return messages seeking comment. Swansea Police Chief George Arruda said his department's rifles are kept in the armory.



"If we have to deal with somebody that rises to the level that we need those weapons deployed, then they will be deployed," Arruda said. "There are times when police departments deal with very dangerous people."



For 2013 and 2014 — the years for which 1033 data were available — the Fall River Police Department did not request any surplus military equipment. Fall River police Detective JD Costa, a department spokesman, said the department has acquired three Humvees that are used to search for missing people in wooded areas or to reach individuals stranded by flooding and severe snow storms.



"Anytime we have to go into rough terrain, we'll use the Humvees," Costa said. "We have obtained no other equipment, and at this time, we are not interested in any other equipment."



The Westport Police Department has obtained metal detectors, ballistic-resistant helmets, military backpacks, a generator and three Humvees through the 1033 Program, said Westport Police Detective Jeff Majewski.



"Every department is dealing with tight budgets and where else would you get that stuff besides from decommissioned military sources," Majewski said, adding that the Westport Police Department has not received any weapons from the Department of Defense.



Meanwhile, the Bristol County Sheriff's Department acquired two 7.62-caliber rifles last year. The department has also obtained night vision goggles, two Boston Whaler boats — one was later given to Fall River harbor master — and office furniture. Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said the military rifles are kept for emergency situations.



"You don't want to fall short and have less of an armory than criminals have," Hodgson said. "The weaponry being used against the police nowadays is very serious."



Majewski mentioned the 2004 riots at UMass Dartmouth — where students smashed furniture and threw cinder blocks at police — as the type of situation where conventional police had to rely on SWAT teams because they had necessary crowd control gear like riot shields, longer batons and specialized helmets.



"The tactical helmets, the riot shields, they look mean, but the reality is it's the only way to protect yourself in a (hostile) crowd situation, and obviously you have to have a higher level of training," Majewski said.



However, not everyone is convinced about the need for local police departments acquiring military gear. The ACLU of Massachusetts notes that homicide clearance rates — the rates at which murders are solved — across New England have fallen over the past decade at the same time that law enforcement departments have incorporated "military-style policing."



"A federally orchestrated militarization of local police forces has taken place in secret, without making our communities any safer," Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty project of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in prepared remarks. ACLU officials also said that police using military-style tactics, including the use of assault rifles, flash bang grenades and battering rams, have increased the likelihood of civilians being injured and killed.



"Our findings reveal not only the dangers of militarized police, but also the difficulties in determining the extent and impact of those dangers," Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a press release. "At every level — from the police to the state governments to the federal government — there is almost no record-keeping about SWAT or the use of military weapons and vehicles by local law enforcement."



Librett, the Bridgwater State University professor who is also a retired police officer, said he agreed with local police chiefs who obtain military equipment to protect police officers in dangerous situations.



"I'd argue that every police department would benefit to have access to vehicles that could safely transport officers to a setting with an armed subject bent on harming police officers," Librett said.



"These chiefs are absolutely correct. There are situations when the police need to be equipped with these weapons and protective gear. There is no doubt about it. However, does it happen on a daily basis? No. Does it happen often enough to justify the expense of purchasing this equipment new? Probably not."



Policing is an ever-evolving profession, with new technology, equipment and tactics constantly being integrated into the job. However, Librett warned against police departments one day regularly using SWAT teams or deploying patrol officers in fatigues, Humvees and combat gear to routine calls for service.



"Overall, if we were to accept to live in a society where police officers are heavily-armed and have worked this equipment into their everyday patrol style, that would be a very sad and disturbing situation," Librett said. "I don't think we're there."



Email Brian Fraga at bfraga@heraldnews.com