Military arms local police

Surplus equipment includes bomb robots, an airplane and lots of guns

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With troubles in Syria and Iraq, rebels in Lybia, Russia invading Ukraine, it´s little wonder that we in Lansing and communities nearby are uneasy. Today it´s ISIS attacking Jawawla; tomorrow, could it be Mason or Grand Ledge or Charlotte?

Calm your fears. Our counties are prepared, their police forces at the ready with military hardware, off loaded by the U.S. Department of Defense. Police arsenals include remote ordinance neutralizing systems, Humvees, a mineresistant vehicle, a fixed-wing aircraft, night vision goggles, hundreds of assault weapons — millions of dollars in equipment the military no longer wants or needs.

The shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and the protests and storm-trooper police response that followed, has reignited the issue of militarizing local police forces. Congress has ordered the military to distribute its hand-me-downs to needy states, counties and municipalities. The tally of weapons and military supplies released in Ingham, Clinton and Eaton counties is exhaustive. On one hand, it´s better to recycle the equipment than destroy it — maybe. For the locals, an older model 5.56 millimeter rifle, valued at $499, is probably good enough. But not for the Army. When you have a $500 billion-plus Defense budget, there is always something new to buy.

For local police, it´s the big toys that are the most interesting. And there is nothing like a pair of Remote Ordnance Neutralization System (RONS) MK3s in the garage to round out the armory. In January, two of these bomb disposal robots were designated for Ingham County, each valued at $177,477.

“The Remote Ordnance Neutralization System (RONS) provides EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) teams with a peacetime/wartime remote, standoff capability to perform EOD missions. It provides EOD soldiers with the ability to perform reconnaissance, access to site, remote render-safe procedures, “pick-up and carry away,” and disposal tasks in a high-risk and/or contaminated environment,” is how the Army describes this equipment.

Gene Wriggelsworth, Ingham County sheriff, said the units were given to the multijurisdictional (Ingham Sheriff´s Department and the MSU, Meridian and East Lansing police departments) tactical team. “We got two of them because they were used. We needed parts from one to make the other one work.”

His department also received a couple of Humvees, one that works and one that doesn´t. The surplus equipment, much of it not weaponry and all of it free, are items that area police forces couldn´t afford, Wriggelsworth explained.

Ingham County also was designated to receive a trailer-mounted field kitchen, valued at $145,000, which will probably get more use than the robots. But which would you rather see in a parade?

Lists of what has been identified as military equipment for local communities were developed by The New York Times and the Detroit Free Press. The New York Times provided a national overview; the Free Press focused on Michigan. Their numbers don´t exactly square, which reflects the different programs and methods for distributing military equipment and other surplus. Still, the quantities are illustrative. I am using their numbers.

Based on data provided by the Pentagon, the Times developed this weapons scorecard for mid Michigan counties.

Since 2006, law enforcement agencies in Ingham County have obtained 111 night vision goggles, 77 assault rifles, 16 sets of body armor, 12 pistols and 10 shot guns. Clinton County received one pair of night-vision goggles, 100 assault rifles, one armored vehicle and a fixed wing airplane. The aircraft was valued at $3.1 million, according to the Free Press. There are also support vehicles the aircraft.

The Clinton County toteboard also included a $544,482.41 forward-looking infrared imaging system. Police forces throughout the nation have mounted these to helicopters, which can hover above a crime scene, a car chase or aid in the search for mission persons. They are now being attached to ground vehicles.

The big present in Eaton County was a mine-resistant vehicle, valued at $865,000. Lots of police departments have these. According to the National Defense Industrial Association, “Domestic police departments nationwide have been picking up those MRAPs free of charge through a Defense Logistics Agency program to offload more than 13,000 of them.”

It continued: “A requesting law enforcement agency is required to meet certain criteria in order to receive an armored vehicle, including justification for use of the vehicle, such as in response to active shooter incidents, SWAT and drug interdiction; geographical area and multi-jurisdiction use; ability to pay for repairs and maintenance of the vehicle; and security and restricted access to the vehicle.”

Other equipment obtained in Eaton County included one pair of night vision goggles, 41 assault rifles, five sets of body armor and 15 pistols. All three counties received more mundane military equipment: cold weather boots at $121.14 a pair, water canteens at $5.25, all sorts of utility trucks, sleeping bags, and even a 40-quart pressure cooker at $200.

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