Local police agencies again can acquire surplus military equipment

Local law-enforcement agencies once again will have access to surplus military equipment after President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday rolling back Obama-era restrictions on the Department of Defense program.

But local police spokesmen said there are no immediate plans to use the reinstated program.

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department public-information officer Sgt. Sean Adams said Friday there had not been any change to the Missouri program guidelines, and the sheriff's department doesn't have any pending requests.

The department has used the program in the past, however, to obtain an armored vehicle and four Humvees.

Under the arrangement -- called the 1033 program -- eligible equipment is listed online, and departments submit requests detailing the justification for their equipment needs.

Cape Girardeau County's military-surplus MRAP, or mine resistant, ambush-protected vehicle is seen Friday in Jackson.Fred Lynch

If granted, Adams said, there's no fee to the department other than travel expenses to pick up the equipment.

Most equipment, he said, is housed in Jefferson City, Missouri, while the department had to fetch the armored vehicle from Texas.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions told a gathering of Tennessee policemen President Barack Obama's restrictions were too severe, according to an Associated Press report.

"We will not put superficial concerns above public safety," Sessions said.

Adams said the program is a good one, reallocating resources to departments like his that use them in a variety of applications.

The interior of Cape Girardeau County's military-surplus MRAP, or mine resistant, ambush-protected vehicle is seen Friday in Jackson.Fred Lynch

"We use those [Humvees] to get to remote areas and rough terrain and then with the floods and things of that nature just because they're more conducive to that work," he said.

The armored personnel carrier is used less frequently; a fact for which Adams said he's thankful.

"But if there is a situation like if someone is armed and has taken a hostage ... in the past, in that kind of situation, we had to be outside hiding with a cellphone," he said.

Negotiators and other personnel now can achieve proximity to the subject without compromising safety.

"It can also be used to evacuate people," he said, adding other agencies have requested its use or standby presence.

Cape Girardeau Police Lt. Adam Glueck, as operations support commander, said his department also isn't requesting any new equipment at this time.

Any future requests, he said, will be evaluated in-house and approved by him and police chief Wes Blair before submission.

"We're not going to purchase something just because we can," Glueck said. "We don't plan on putting bayonets on the end of our rifles. We base our requests on what we're going to use."

The program was initiated under President Bill Clinton in 1996 but was curtailed in 2015 by President Obama amid concerns about the militarization of local police agencies, which intensified in response to unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, and other places.

Cape Girardeau Police public-information officer Sgt. Rick Schmidt said Wednesday the police department strives to be mindful of public perception of certain equipment.

"We don't want to look like soldiers driving down the road. We are a hugely community-oriented police department," he said. "We would never want to give the idea or be seen as a military force driving down Broadway, because that's not the way policing is done in 2017, and I guarantee that's not how chief Blair wants his department viewed."

He said the police department needs the community more than the other way around, and "we work daily to maintain that relationship."

tgraef@semissourain.com

(573) 388-3627