President will sign order to revive program that provides departments with surplus military equipment such as high-caliber weapons and armored vehicles

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

US police will again have access to high-caliber weapons, grenade launchers, heavily armored vehicles and other surplus military equipment that the Obama administration had limited after critics said its use was militarizing the police and inflaming confrontations with protesters, often in racially sensitive situations.

Donald Trump plans to sign an order undoing the Obama-era directive, the US attorney general, Jeff Sessions, on Monday told a national convention of the Fraternal Order of Police, one of the groups that have urged Trump to revive the military program.

On Sunday night, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) said the move was part of the Trump administration’s “open effort to escalate racial tensions in our country”.

In 2015, Barack Obama issued an executive order that severely limited the surplus program, partly as a result of public outrage over the use of military gear during protests in Ferguson, Missouri, following the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.



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Police in Ferguson responded in riot gear and deployed teargas, dogs and armored vehicles. At times they also pointed assault rifles at protesters.

Obama’s order prohibited the federal government from providing grenade launchers, bayonets, tracked armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft and vehicles and firearms and ammunition of .50-caliber or greater to police.



As of December, the 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, tank-like tracks instead of wheels – that were provided through the program.

Trump’s new order will fully restore the program under which “assets that would otherwise be scrapped can be repurposed to help state, local and tribal law enforcement better protect public safety and reduce crime”, documents first reported by USA Today stated.

Trump and Sessions are enacting a law-and-order agenda in which federal support of local police is seen as key to driving down violent crime.

National police organizations have been pushing Trump to hold to his promise to once again make the equipment available to local and state police departments, many of which see it as needed to ensure officers are not put in danger when responding to active shooter calls and terrorist attacks.

An armored vehicle played a key role in the police response to the December 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.

In 1990, Congress authorized the Pentagon to give surplus equipment to police to help fight drugs, which then gave way to the fight against terrorism.

Trump vowed to rescind Obama’s order in a written response to a Fraternal Order of Police questionnaire that helped him win an endorsement from the organization of rank-and-file officers. He reiterated his promise during a gathering of police officers in July, saying the equipment still on the streets is being put to good use.



“In fact, that stuff is disappearing so fast we have none left,” Trump said.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund said in a statement on Sunday night that it is “exceptionally dangerous and irresponsible” for the administration to lift the ban.

“Just a few summers ago, our nation watched as Ferguson raised the specter of increased police militarization,” the group said. “The law enforcement response there and in too many places across the country demonstrated how perilous, especially for black and brown communities, a militarized police force can be.

“The president’s decision to make this change in the wake of the tragedy in Charlottesville and against a backdrop of frayed relations between police and communities of color further reflects this administration’s now open effort to escalate racial tensions in our country.”

The documents reported by USA Today said Trump’s order would emphasize public safety over the appearance of the heavily equipment. They describe much of the gear as “defensive in nature”, intended to protect officers from danger.

The justice department declined to comment on the expected move.

Most police agencies rarely require military equipment for daily use but see a need to have it available, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum.

“It is hard to imagine any situation where a grenade launcher or bayonet would be something that a major police department would need, but defensive shields and armored vehicles kept on reserve will be welcome,” he said.

Sessions has said he believes boosting morale among police can help curb spikes in violence in some cities. The plan to restore access to military equipment comes after Sessions has said he intends to pull back on court-enforceable improvement plans with troubled police departments, which he says can malign entire agencies and make officers less aggressive on the street.

Consent decrees were a hallmark of the Obama administration’s efforts to overhaul certain law enforcement agencies, sometimes after racially charged encounters like the one in Ferguson.