Rural law enforcement not happy with Obama administration's call to return military equipment

Local law enforcement agencies that for years have been stocking up on military gear through a U.S. Department of Defense program that allows the transfer of military property that is no longer needed are now voicing their displeasure about notifications from the Obama administration asking for the equipment to be returned, Timothy Williams reports for The New York Times. Hundreds of law enforcement offices have been asked to return the equipment by April 1. (Military Today photo: Some local law enforcement agencies have M-113 armored vehicles.)

A report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said that the equipment has "resulted in more aggressive tactics by departments, particularly in minority neighborhoods, leading to deaths and serious injuries," Williams writes. "In one 2014 episode highlighted by the ACLU, a heavily armed police officer in Cornelia, Ga., threw a stun grenade into a playpen during a raid, blowing a hole in the face of a 19-month-old baby and causing severe burns. The officer was not criminally charged."

But local law enforcement agencies say recent shootings—such as the ones in California and Colorado—highlight a need for officers to be heavily armed, Williams writes. "They point out that fears about terrorism have spread to the smallest communities. They also say that the equipment has been helpful amid tight county budgeting and that it is used in all sorts of ways that do not involve civil unrest or terrorism, including training exercises and confrontations with gunmen. Armored vehicles, which move on tanklike tracks, are often used for search-and-rescue operations after storms or floods to navigate rough terrain, they say."

Sheriff Larry Amerson of rural Calhoun County, Alabama, who was ordered to send back his department’s M-113 armored vehicle, told Williams, "Take them away from anyone who used them improperly, absolutely, but don’t punish everyone. Now, if we have an active-shooter situation with an armed person, we don’t have any piece of equipment to move in safely for my deputies or the people I’m sworn to protect.”

Sheriff Lorin W. Nielsen of rural Bannock County, Idaho, who returned his department’s M-113 in December, argues that "tracked vehicles can climb steep hills and travel along unpaved roads, a significant advantage over other vehicles," Williams writes. He told Williams, “We have some pretty rough terrain here, and we feel like they took a major tool out of our toolbox." (Read more)

Police, sheriff's departments requesting heavy military artillery, mostly to fight local drug use

It's not uncommon for small town police department to stock up on seemingly unnecessary military gear through a U.S. Department of Defense program that allows the transfer of military property that is no longer needed, with few restrictions placed on the use of the items. That has raised concern in some areas, especially after last year's riots in Ferguson were met with military-style resistance from local police. (Department of Defense photo: Police departments and sheriff's offices are requesting vehicles like this to combat local crime)

Advocates justify the heavy artillery as providing safety to the community during potential threats such as hostage situations, rescue missions and heavy-duty shootouts, Molly Redden reports for Mother Jones. To see if this is true, "Mother Jones obtained more than 450 local requests, filed over two years, for what may be the most iconic piece of equipment in the debate over militarizing local police: the mine resistant ambush protected vehicle, or MRAP. And an analysis of these documents reveals that in justifying their requests, very few sheriffs and police chiefs cite active shooters, hostage situations or terrorism, as police advocates do in public."

"Instead, the single most common reason agencies requested a mine-resistant vehicle was to combat drugs," Redden writes. "Fully a quarter of the 465 requests projected using the vehicles for drug enforcement. Almost half of all departments indicated that they sit within a region designated by the federal government as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. (Nationwide, only 17 percent of counties are HIDTAs.) One out of six departments were prepared to use the vehicles to serve search or arrest warrants on individuals who had yet to be convicted of a crime. And more than half of the departments indicated they were willing to deploy armored vehicles in a broad range of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) raids."

"By contrast, out of the total 465 requests, only 8 percent mention the possibility of a barricaded gunman," Redden writes. "For hostage situations, the number is 7 percent, for active shooters, 6 percent. Only a handful mentioned downed officers or the possibility of terrorism."

"The requests flowed to a massive Pentagon program—known as the 1033 program—that has given communities across the country a total of $5.6 billion in combat equipment left over from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon said, 625 MRAPs. A 2014 NPR analysis found that the Pentagon has also doled out 80,000 assault rifles, 200 grenade launchers and 12,000 bayonets. In 2012, the program began making MRAPs available," Redden writes. "The vehicles weigh around 14 tons and feature armored hulls and tiny, blast-proof windows." (Read more)

Many small-town police stations equipped with military gear, like what Ferguson police are using

For years small-town police stations have been loading up on free military gear through a U.S. Department of Defense program that allows the transfer of military property that is no longer needed, with few restrictions placed on the use of the items. That means rural police stations, often in areas with little crime, are stocked up as if they are prepping for war. And if the events in Ferguson, Mo., are any indication, some local police do have the ability to resemble military operations, with the $360,000 Bearcat armored truck on patrol in Ferguson acquired through the program, Julie Bosman and Matt Apuzzo report for The New York Times. (To view this interactive NYT map of counties that received military property click here)

Ferguson isn't the only area where local law enforcement is capable of resembling an army. Since the mid 1980s La Plata County, Colorado, has averaged about 30 violent crimes per year among its more than 50,000 residents, yet the local police force has on hand a small arsenal, Jonathan Thompson reports for High Country News. Through the program local law enforcement agencies "have received over 5,000 battlefield-tested items, including at least 100 bayonet knives, three ordnance- and explosive-disposal robots, 18 5.56 mm rifles (M16s), five 7.62 mm rifles (M14s), 15 .45 caliber pistols, 30 bipods for machine guns, four night vision sniper scopes, two exercise bikes and a Cat-1 MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle (MRAP)."

Here is a sample of what some law enforcement agencies have received (For a more complete list, click here):
• Moffat County, Colorado, population 13,000, got 11 assault rifles and two grenade launchers.
• Montrose County, Colorado, got two grenade launchers.
• San Juan County, New Mexico, got three MRAPS, two helicopters, a “combat/assault/tactical wheeled vehicle” and 192 assault packs.
• Union County, New Mexico, with 4,000 residents, received some 2,000 items from the program, including an elliptical trainer, 14 M110 IWS sniper sets, a dishwasher, a milk dispenser, four projection screens, four radars, seven lawn mowers and edgers and six motor scooters.
• Fremont County, Idaho, with less than 13,000 residents, picked up no fewer than 60 assault rifles and pistols.
• Utah counties collectively picked up more than 1,000 assault rifles and pistols
• Coconino County, Arizona, stocked up on more than 90 assault rifles, pistols and riot style shotguns, in addition to night vision goggles, 13 thermal sights and 40 ground troops’ helmets.                                                                
• Big Horn County, Wyoming, population 12,000, got 25 rifles and pistols, a bunch of trucks and an MRAP.
• Goshen County, Wyoming, with 13,000 residents, scored several riot style shotguns and a grenade launcher.
• Laramie County, Wyoming, got 246 assault rifles, nine pistols, an armored truck and a $733,000 mine-resistant vehicle.
• All together, Wyoming law enforcement agencies received 936 assault rifles and 72 automatic pistols. 

Small-town police stations load up on free military gear they don't need, and aren't closely monitored

Small-town police stations are beefing up their military supplies using a free-for-all program through "the National Defense Authorization Act that permits the transfer to law-enforcement agencies of military property no longer needed" by the Department of Defense, Michael Kunzelman reports for The Associated Press. "a disproportionate share of the $4.2 billion worth of property distributed since 1990 has been obtained by police departments and sheriff's offices in rural areas with few officers and little crime." (Dayton Daily News photo: Englewood, Ohio Police Officer Doug Hacker with M-16 rifles received though the program)

Nearly 13,000 agencies, in all states and four U.S. territories, participate in the program. In the 2012 fiscal year a record $546 million worth of property was transferred. But the program is rarely monitored, and requests are being granted for millions of dollars worth of supplies that police stations can't use, such as scuba equipment in areas with no water, and helicopter parts for stations that don't have a helicopter.

"Staffing shortages and budget constraints have made it difficult for federal and state program officials to keep track of all of the property and to prevent police forces from obtaining excessive amounts of used military equipment and other Defense Department-transferred property," Kunzelman writes. Participants are expected to take only what they need. But that hasn't been the case.

Rising Star, Tex., which only has one full-time officer and 835 residents, acquired more than $3.2 million worth of property, including nine televisions, 11 computers, three deep-fat fryers, two meat slicers, 22 large space heaters, a pool table, 25 sleeping bags, and playground equipment,  Kunzelman reports. Morven, Ga., a town of 700, has received $4 million worth of property, including a decontamination machine missing most of its parts, 20 blankets, 10 two-man combat tents, a hammock, four demagnetizers, two leg curl machines, a shoulder press, a leg press, two treadmills, 20 red gym shorts, 20 fitted bed sheets, 50 flat bed sheets, 355 sandbags and a shipment of bayonets.

The property is not to be used for personal purposes, and can't be sold or given away without permission, Kunzelman writes. The Defense Logistics Agency in Battle Creek, Mich., oversees use of the equipment, and sometimes suspends recipients for improper use, but "Many state program coordinators say they have the staff and funding to conduct only a handful of on-site inspections annually — if at all." The Defense Department is required to conduct program compliance reviews of each state program every two years, but many states have often gone much longer without one. (Read more)

Rural counties find cleanup of meth-lab sites so troublesome, expensive, many left abandoned

Homes are sitting vacant in many rural Indiana counties, after their use as methamphetamine labs rendered them uninhabitable without costly clean-up. State regulations require owners to pay for the cost of decontamination, necessary since meth residue can linger for a decade and can cause significant health problems for those living in the residence. But many rural counties lack the authority to enforce regulations or the money to clean up the residence themselves.

The cost of meth cleanup can range between $3,000 to $30,000, not counting initial testing, which costs around $1,500. That price is too steep for many, who instead choose to abandon the property. Meth makers are not the only ones affected: the law affects landlords, who can be stuck with cleanup costs thanks to their tenants' activities. As we reported earlier this year, Indiana found a third more meth labs in 2008 than they did in 2007, with the highest number of labs discovered in rural Noble County, population 47,500.

In Perry County, Ky., 78-year-old Geneva Litherland's son complained to Jermie Farmer, an environmental specialist at the county's health department after a neighboring trailer was abandoned. But there was nothing Farmer could do. "It's one of those situations where your hands are just tied, especially in a small county such as ours," he said. "We are sick of it." (Read more)

States expand use of unclaimed-property laws to collect billions in assets that owners forgot

Unclaimed-property laws aim to return forgotten assets to owners, but states have expanded their use of such laws to find and hold those assets for themselves, report Scott Thurm and Pui-Wing Tam of The Wall Street Journal. The article includes a state-by-state chart of unclaimed property that would be a great place to start reporting a localized story.

"States have broadened laws to cover unredeemed gift cards and uncashed corporate checks to employees and suppliers," the reporters write. "They've required businesses to turn over assets more quickly, and curtailed efforts to locate owners. And they've strengthened enforcement by hiring private auditors to examine corporate books in search of "lost" property. The auditors' reward: 10 to 15 percent of proceeds."

The Journal reports that as of June 2006, the 50 states together held $35 billion in unclaimed property. On average, they return about a third of it. States vary in their definition of unclaimed property and in their efforts to notify owners. California stopped running lists of seized, unclaimed property in newspapers, but a judge stopped that program temporarily after a former Intel Corp. employee sued after 200,000 shares of his stock were sold by the state. Delaware, a favorite legal domicile for corporations, is another aggressive collector and holder. It returns only 5 percent or so of unclaimed property it collects, and auctions off some assets on eBay. (Read more)