SEATTLE – State and local police have fallen in line for a rummage sale of Kevlar helmets, boots, boats or even helicopters available through a Defense Department program in which the military unloads its old or outdated equipment.
For more than a decade, cash-strapped law enforcement agencies across the country have received millions of dollars in equipment the military no longer needs.
In fiscal 2005, 50 agencies in Washington state took in more than 5,200 items, including generators, file cabinets, weapons and vehicles, according to Defense Department figures. The pieces were valued at more than $2.6 million.
About 16,000 departments nationwide obtained more than 380,000 pieces of equipment in 2005, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. The items were worth nearly $124 million.
The Defense Department’s giveaway program – administered by the Defense Logistic Agency – started in 1990 to transfer surplus military parts to police for anti-drug and anti-terrorism work. Its mission was later broadened.
Recipients usually pay only to ship the equipment and buy any necessary upgrades; therefore, the surplus helps equip departments without straining their already tight budgets.
The program offers Washington agencies equipment such as body armor, ballistic shields, rain gear, M-16 rifles, gas masks and chemical protective equipment, according to the state General Administration Department, which handles requests from law enforcement agencies for the surplus equipment.
The agency manages a warehouse in Auburn that houses thousands of military items always ready for law enforcement to haul home, spokesman Steve Valandra said.
The big-ticket item for the Washington state Fish and Wildlife Department has been rigid-hull inflatable vessels such as those used by the Coast Guard.
The department may have to spend $40,000 in upgrades to the boats, but that’s less than half what it would cost to buy such a vessel outright, said Bill Jarmon, deputy chief of law enforcement for Fish and Wildlife.
“It’s really been a thing that’s worked out well for us,” Jarmon said. “These would normally be the types of vessels we wouldn’t be able to afford.”
The King County sheriff’s department for several years has turned to the surplus program to get military helicopters.
“They’re 1970s vintage, but they get us there,” sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart said.
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