In the parking lot of Middletown police headquarters sits a 14-ton armored fighting vehicle designed to withstand roadside improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan.

Jersey City police have the firepower of an army, with an inventory of 155 surplus M16 military assault rifles, able to spit out hundreds of rounds a minute.

And the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office has a grenade launcher.

Over the past two decades, law enforcement agencies in New Jersey have acquired surplus military gear worth $32.8 million — including hundreds of automatic rifles, night vision scopes, laser range finders, combat knives, armored trucks, three helicopters and the grenade launcher — all free of charge.

The equipment, made available under a congressionally mandated program set up in the 1990s in response to concerns that local police departments were being outgunned amid a growing plague of violent crime, went to communities across the state, from the city of Newark to the quiet bay town of Barnegat. The program has accelerated with the wind down of the nation’s involvement in the Middle East, bringing a flood of unneeded war material back from the battlefields and onto the streets of communities large and small.

But the federal program — which, since its inception, has funneled $5.1 billion worth of hardware and supplies to more than 8,000 departments across the country — has come into sharp focus since the events in Ferguson, Mo. In the wake of the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teen by a white police officer on Aug. 9, images of demonstrators clashing with police clad in black tactical armor, carrying Army assault weapons and riding the streets atop hulking armored trucks like the one parked in Middletown have captured national attention.

At issue is the militarization of police, and questions have arisen over whether it is appropriate for civilian law enforcement agencies to be deploying weapons of war on the streets of the United States.

Saturday, White House officials said President Obama plans a comprehensive examination of the program in the wake of the unrest in Ferguson.

"I think it’s probably useful for us to review how the funding has gone, how local law enforcement has used grant dollars, to make sure that what they’re purchasing is stuff that they actually need," the president said Monday.

Rear Adm. John Kirby, at a Pentagon briefing last Tuesday, said it has always been up to local law enforcement to determine how, when and where they use excess military equipment, but added that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has been looking into the program as well.

FROM CAMERAS TO M16s

According to an analysis of Defense Logistics Agency transfers to New Jersey, surplus military items ranging from office equipment, sleeping bags, computers, digital cameras and clothing to aircraft, vehicles and weapons meant for a battlefield have been shipped to departments across the state.

The program, administered in New Jersey under the state’s Office of Emergency Management, saw the transfer of $21 million in excess Defense Department material in the current fiscal year, which ended Aug. 19.

Among the gear currently held by state law enforcement agencies are 529 military-issue M16 assault rifles that went to 15 counties; 365 M14s, a rifle still used by Navy SEAL teams, sent to 17 New Jersey counties; night vision goggles and range finders able to find targets in the dark; dozens of Army Humvees and armored trucks; five bomb disposal robots; and a $412,000 mine-resistant, ambush-protected armored vehicle, known as an MRAP, meant for war zone patrols.

The equipment was all provided "as is," but departments are responsible for transporting and maintaining it.

The American Civil Liberties Union said military-grade weapons do not belong in the hands of local police.

"We’re building a culture in our local sheriff police departments of a warrior mentality," said Ari Rosmarin, public policy director of ACLU of New Jersey. "The more police officers see themselves as warriors, the more they’ll begin seeing members of the communities as the enemy."

Calling the tools and tactics of the military "almost always inappropriate" for domestic police work, he said the militarization of police work does little to build trust in the communities.

"We don’t minimize the dangers of modern policing. It’s a dangerous job and one that puts officers at risk, often," he said. But that does not "require military equipment and military vehicles."

Barnegat Township Administrator David Breeden, whose Ocean County community obtained four surplus Humvees through the program, said the debate ignores the realities communities struggle with in budgeting municipal services, and the dangers police face every day in fighting crime. "There needs to be a focus on the militarization of the ‘bad guys’ if we are to have an honest discussion of the subject," Breeden said.

He said many criminals have access to heavy-duty hardware and resources, which must be factored into the equation when determining how to properly equip police officers.

"When people need help, all they want is an immediate response, capable of addressing their needs, and this federal program greatly enhances the ability of local government to adequately respond to law enforcement and emergency management situations," he said.

PARK FULL OF HUMVEES

Yet for Barnegat resident James D’Arienzo, the fleet of Humvees stored on the grounds of an old skateboard park looks out of place in town.

"It seems very silly. This was supposed to be a skate park and now it’s holding military vehicles," said the father of three. "I have no desire to take any equipment away from the police, but I feel bad for the kids. It’s just an eyesore, and it looks like we’re living in North Korea. There is no need for any of these vehicles."

Barnegat Police Chief Arthur Drexler said Hurricane Sandy vividly demonstrated the need for big, multiterrain vehicles like the Humvees, able to get through heavily flooded sections of town.

"We’re not using ours for any kinds of tactical duty at all. They are to get into areas we can’t reach," he said. "And they were free. Economics are tough right now. We would never have been able to get vehicles like these on our own."

The Humvees are at the former skateboard park because another secure location could not be found for them, the chief said.

Other local officials made similar arguments for the emergency use of armored vehicles and trucks they also got from the military. Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura, who also serves as the county’s emergency management coordinator, said the program offered the opportunity to obtain several high-water vehicles, including three Humvees used during Tropical Storm Irene. The county did not request any assault weapons or mine-resistant vehicles, which Fontoura said had no place in an urban area.

"If you need that, then it’s time to call in the Army," he said.

Middletown Township Administrator Anthony Mercantante, though, defended his community’s acquisition of an MRAP and also said it is to be used for responding to natural disasters, not to patrol streets.

The massive vehicle, its desert camouflage painted over in livery of the Middletown Police Department, was delivered just before Hurricane Sandy hit and was used to rescue people from their homes.

"Yeah, this is armored," he said. "A windblown street sign at 120 miles an hour is a projectile."

At the same time, Mercantante said the military surplus program has provided more than $3 million in equipment and vehicles that Middletown would have had to buy on its own, including generators, water pumps, cameras and other vehicles.

"We’re not about becoming a military operation here," he said. "We’re simply looking for equipment that’s effective."

For other communities, though, the military gear is geared toward fighting crime. Newark, for example, acquired a surplus Bell OH-58 Kiowa observation helicopter to begin the city’s first air patrols.

Separately, the city also used forfeiture funds this year to buy a $250,000 armored vehicle for its SWAT team. Officials say the tank-like truck has a radiation and chemical detector, a reinforced bottom to absorb improvised explosives, and the sides can take a .50-caliber shell.

"Recent events, mall shootings, active shooters in schools and the like, dictate that we have such equipment in our arsenal, as well as the resources to man the same," said police spokesman Sgt. Ronald Glover. "In the event of a rampant unrest in the city, we are fully prepared and capable of confronting such unrest. We have ample resources here and with other police agencies in the city and in neighboring towns to abate such a situation peacefully."

In Jersey City, officials said the city’s request for 155 military-issue M16 assault rifles and another 15 M14s was a direct response to concerns over terrorism following the attacks on the World Trade Center.

"The department acquired them after 9/11 to be used at critical locations throughout the city in heightened awareness situations, and trained members use them for their annual qualifications and training at the range," said city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill. "Currently, they are stored at the department armory."

She said the M14s are used by the police department’s honor guard for ceremonial purposes, and that all the equipment obtained through the program is audited and accounted for every year.

And officials at the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department acknowledged they received a grenade launcher from the equipment program, but spokesman David Martinez said it was meant to launch pepper spray canisters in the event of "a large-scale riot" at the Bergen County jail. It’s never been deployed.

The department has also come under criticism over plans to take delivery next month of two MRAP vehicles, one meant for spare parts. Martinez said it will be used for rescue operations.

"There’s no weapons on it," he said. "We don’t have another vehicle … that would withstand 7 feet of water."

UNDER SCRUTINY

Congress, meanwhile, is taking notice of the debate.

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th Dist.), who recently voted for an amendment to the Department of Defense appropriations bill to prohibit the Pentagon from using funds to transfer surplus military equipment to local law enforcement, said Congress needs to take a serious look at the program.

"It seems a lot of this stuff is designed for the military and not necessary for a local police force," he said in an interview. "I’ve heard some towns say they need the equipment for disaster relief, and that may be. But I question whether there is a real need for grenade launchers and armored personnel carriers."

In the Senate, Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) is also looking to review the program.

"Congress established this program out of real concern that local law enforcement agencies were literally outgunned by drug criminals," he said in a statement.

But Levin indicated before the defense authorization bill comes to the Senate floor, his committee plans to review the program to determine if equipment provided by the Defense Department is being used as intended.

Dennis Jay Kenney, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former project director for the Police Foundation, questioned whether departments even know how to use the military equipment they are getting. Pointing to the images of Ferguson, he said the pictures of police snipers standing atop armored vehicles indicated they did not understand basic tactical operations.

"It showed you can look intimidating with a big gun," he remarked. "Which shows they don’t know how to use it."

Kenney agreed that the shift toward more military weapons and special tactics equipment was counter to good policing.

"Policing is about relations with people, and militarizing police takes you away from that," he explained.

And the problem with black fatigues and six-wheel armored personnel carriers, he observed, is the incentive to use them in inappropriate situations.

"When all you’ve got is a hammer, everything becomes a nail," he said.

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