Bay State police departments have scored nearly $13 million worth of military surplus equipment — ranging from mine-resistant vehicles to night-vision goggles and rifles — a bonanza critics say is a step toward militarizing local law enforcement.

“If you have this equipment at your disposal and at the ready, they’re going to put it into play somehow in some sort of street situation,” said Tom Nolan, an associate professor of criminology at Merrimack College. “It’s safe to say that if military vehicles are acquired by police departments, they are going to use them in ways that the public might find objectionable.”

State police have received $2,246,923.29 of the $12,905,378.00 in equipment funneled into the Bay State from the Department of Defense via the so-called 1033 Program, according to newly released data.

“The (program) is valuable to law enforcement agencies,” said Massachusetts State Police spokesman Dave Procopio. “In an age when state and local police have been called upon to expand their mission and help fight terrorism and help lead the response to natural disasters, it’s important to have the tools to do so.”

Several military Humvees, personnel carriers, and utility and dump trucks were the big-ticket items that state police have used for mostly weather-related purposes, Procopio said.

However, some Massachusetts cities and towns have received military-style equipment that would be typically seen in war zones instead of on main street.

• Haverhill, New Bedford and Rehoboth received mine-resistant vehicles worth $658,000 this year.

• The small town of Norfolk got a $205,400 107mm mortar carrier in 2009.

• Worcester police acquired 70 rifles of varying calibers for about $500 apiece in 2006.

• The town of Norton picked up 12 rifles of varying calibers in 2012.

• Gloucester police picked up three utility trucks in 2012, which have mostly been used for show.

“They were free, and vehicles for all police departments are at a premium,” Gloucester police Chief Leonard Campanello said. “We use them in parades in events around the state, and they are easily turned into police vehicles in bad storms.”

President Obama last week said he would issue an executive order to tighten the rules for the program after outrage over images of police in armored vehicles and military gear rolling out to quell unrest in Ferguson, Mo.

Kade Crockford, director of the ACLU of Massachusetts’ Technology for Liberty Project, said the program allows local police to equip themselves with military-style equipment without taking into consideration what taxpayers want.

“People defend these military acquisitions by saying they need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario,” she said. “The problem with programs like this is that they have been funding the militarization of state and local law enforcement entirely in the dark. That’s not because the programs are secret — it because there’s no public discussion about what law enforcement is actually receiving.”