In wake of Ferguson clashes, a focus on arming local police

By JEREMY BLACKMAN

Monitor staff

Last modified: 9/22/2014 12:21:03 AM

In the weeks since heavily armed police officers took to the streets in Ferguson, Mo., following the shooting death of an unarmed black teen, a national dialogue has been ignited over the need to equip law enforcement with military-grade gear.



Much of the conversation has centered on a decades-old program that provides local police forces with Pentagon war-surplus material, including heavy-duty body armor, mine-resistant trucks, silencers and automatic rifles. The program is designed in part for counter-terrorism, and has mushroomed in scale since the Sept. 11 attacks.



More than 7,000 local agencies participate in the program, according to federal data obtained and shared by the news site MuckRock. New Hampshire is no exception. As of December, 74 local forces were enrolled.



Between September 2011 and the same time last year, millions of dollars worth of military-style equipment flowed into the state, according to the data. That gear includes cold-weather clothing, night vision equipment, bulletproof blankets, holographic gun sights, rifles, bayonets and a $950,000 utility truck.



The Department of Defense does not disclose which agencies receive specific equipment. Local participants – as of December, according to the data – included the state police, the Merrimack County Sheriff’s office and the police departments in Boscawen, Loudon, Laconia, Allenstown, Deerfield, Henniker and Pembroke.



The 1033 program, as it’s known, is run through the Department of Defense. It was launched in the late 1980s at the height of a domestic war on drugs, and solidified by Congress in the mid-1990s.



In a report published in June, the American Civil Liberties Union said approximately $4.3 billion worth of equipment has been transferred through the 1033 program to date. The value of annual transfers has grown from $1 million in 1990 to $324 million in 1995 and nearly $450 million last year, the group reported.



In the wake of the clashes in Ferguson, many have questioned whether such militarization is necessary, particularly in rural communities with relatively little crime. President Obama recently ordered a review of the 1033 program, and U.S. senators asked in a hearing last week about the need for 11,959 bayonets distributed by the program since 2006 – at least 30 of which have ended up in New Hampshire.



Devon Chaffee, executive director of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, noted that the 1033 program and others like it – including the federal grant program through which the Concord police recently acquired a $258,000 armored vehicle – can have profound effects on local communities. Yet as of now, she said, there is hardly any oversight.



“I think the issue is really what are the police doing in our communities, and how is this equipment and money and training affecting how police go about their business,” Chaffee said. “If the equipment is used appropriately, that’s one thing.”



But she said incidents like Ferguson show that it is often used with questionable justification and in minority communities. “We want to make sure that doesn’t happen here in New Hampshire,” she said.



Chaffee also said agencies that participate in the 1033 program are only required to show where and how the equipment will be stored. They can use it or transfer it to other agencies as they wish, she said. She and other civil rights advocates have recommended that data be made more publicly available about when and how the gear is used.



“The federal government holds the purse strings,” the June ACLU report said, “and restricting the flow of federal funds and military-grade equipment into states and localities, and/or conditioning the funds on the appropriate use of such equipment and training, would significantly reduce the overuse of hyper-aggressive tactics and military-grade tools in local communities.”



Merrimack County Sheriff Scott Hilliard said he understands that concern, but also sees the benefits of such programs.



Through the 1033 program, he said, his department has acquired emergency power generators, a trailer, cold-weather clothing and military-style helmets.



“Obviously it saves me money,” he said. “I don’t have to ask the local taxpayers for it.”



Hilliard suggested that the more combat-style gear likely ends up in the hand of regional SWAT teams, which respond to higher-threat scenarios. He also stressed the importance of officer training.



While the state is safe overall, Hilliard added, the potential for danger has grown in recent decades. “Even in New Hampshire, it’s a much more dangerous environment than it was 35 years ago,” he said.







(Jeremy Blackman can be reached at 369-3319, jblackman@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JBlackmanCM.)





