State police have acquired 65 military rifles and an 18-ton armored vehicle through a federal program that allows state and local police to acquire surplus material from the military virtually without cost, records show.
Local police across the state also obtain everything from Humvees to shotguns to generators through a program known as 1033, according to the Vermont National Guard, which oversees the program in the state.
Police chiefs say the program allows departments on tight budgets to obtain vital equipment at a fraction of the cost, because they only have to pay shipping. They also say police need more protection from increasingly armed civilians.
The American Civil Liberties Union says 1033 and programs like it allow local police access to weapons they wouldn’t otherwise have.
The program is controversial after police in Ferguson, Missouri, last month used military-style weapons to quell protesters in the streets who were outraged after a local, white police officer shot an unarmed black teenager.
After those protests, President Barack Obama ordered a review of such federal programs, including 1033, which together supplied nearly half a billion dollars of military equipment to local police last year, according to the Washington Post.
The Swanton Police Department is among agencies in Vermont that have acquired equipment through the program. They have two Humvees, several flat-screen computer monitors, a combination air conditioner-heater-generator, rifle sights and three standard shotguns, Chief Leonard Stell said.
“There’s been a slow militarization of law enforcement for the last few decades and the reason for that is because our society has picked up in violence,” Stell said.
Stell said the shotguns would have cost $300 each but his department paid only $25 each, for shipping.
“I’d love to be able to have a ballistic shield for my department for an active shooter situation,” Stell said. “Hopefully, we never have one but what better protection for the officer?”
Richmond police have two Humvees, one for rescue work and one for parts. The department painted the Humvee blue and white and officers use it not for patrols but for rescue work, during floods and in winter when ambulances can’t get to areas like a long, unplowed driveway, Richmond Police Chief Al Buck said.
Richmond is on a waitlist for M16 rifles that it would convert from fully automatic to semiautomatic, Buck said. One rifle would ordinarily cost $1,000 but he could get it for $50 shipping.
“We’re a small police department, a small town, we never have enough money in the budget,” he said.
Shootings in Vermont often occur in small towns, Buck said. Police need a way to protect themselves.
“They either get drunk or doped up and do something stupid and then police are confronted with this situation,” Buck said.
A complete list of all equipment acquired by all police departments was not available Wednesday. Burlington police said they do not use the program.
State police released their list of equipment as the result of a public records request. They have 59 M16 A1 rifles, a Vietnam-era weapon, and six M14 patrol rifles, according to records provided.
State police in February also acquired a Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle (MRAP), an armored unit. State police have one other armed vehicle, the Lenco Bearcat.
The state police tactical team is the only full-service tactical team in the state and responds to incidents statewide, police said in their application for the vehicle. The MRAP will help police respond to barricaded suspects, warrant services, active shooters, hostage rescues and natural disasters, state police said.
The MRAP hasn’t been used yet because state police are still developing a policy, Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn said. It should be put into use in October, he said.
State police acquired the weapons in response to a 1997 shooting in Colebrook, New Hampshire, when a man shot and killed four people and wounded four law enforcement officials with a semiautomatic weapon, Vermont State Police Col. Thomas L’Esperance said.
L’Esperance said the MRAP should never be used during civil unrest or demonstrations, but rather in situations where the caliber of the “threat weapon” can be met by the MRAP.
“We take those (items) in the best interest of public safety and officer safety,” he said.
Vermont began using the program in the mid-1990s and is one of four states in which the National Guard administers the program, said Lt. Col. Randall Gates, the Guard officer who runs the program. State police departments run it in other states.
“Some of these small departments feel outgunned because there is so much weaponry out there in the civilian market,” Gates said.
Police departments with arresting authority can join, according to Gates. They can obtain everything from stretchers to boots to kitchen equipment to weapons and armored vehicles.
Police departments or county sheriffs sign an agreement with the National Guard and register online with the federal government. They can then use an online search tool to see thousands of items around the world. There are 11 Humvees in Vermont, Gates said.
There are 91 M16 rifles throughout the state, 68 M14 rifles, most used for ceremonial purposes, he said. The federal government every two years checks to make sure departments can account for their items and in 2013 the score in Vermont was 100 percent, Gates said.
Police chiefs said it is unfair for the program to be criticized because departments in other parts of the country abuse the program. When not abused, the program is a huge boon, they said.
The national American Civil Liberties Union in June released a report called “War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing.”
It focused on more than 800 SWAT raids conducted by law enforcement agencies and found that the majority of raids were for serving warrants or searching for small amounts of drugs, rather than extreme emergencies like hostage situations.
“When you give local police forces the kinds of weapons that armies use, police forces have the potential to carry out activities on the same level of force as armies do,” said Allen Gilbert, director of the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Gilbert also pointed out that the military equipment isn’t free — taxpayers already paid for it.
