BLYTHEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — The recent outbreak of civil unrest between law enforcement agencies and citizens in Ferguson, Missouri, has many observers questioning police usage of military grade equipment. According to the Blytheville Police Chief, however, some may be misunderstanding the application of such equipment.
Recently, the Blytheville Police Department was able to obtain a number of semi-automatic rifles, a Humvee and a mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle, all through the Department of Defense’s Law Enforcement Support Office, which facilitates the 1033 program, The Blytheville Courier News reported (https://bit.ly/1x7df4X ).
This program oversees the transfer of excess federal Department of Defense property to law enforcement agencies across the United States at a significantly reduced cost.
“For us, a lot of the stuff we get is because of the cost factor,” Blytheville Police Department’s chief Ross Thompson said. “There’s equipment out there that is good for law enforcement that we can get at a low cost to the people, taxpayers.”
The rifles the department was able to get were M-16 rifles, which for roughly $50 have been converted from automatic firing, which was how they were used in the military, to semi-automatic firing for police use. To buy weapons like this through another source, they would have cost roughly $900 each. Thompson said one of the important things for people to know about these rifles is that they are also available to the general public.
“These rifles are no different from the same gun that can be purchased at Walmart,” Thompson said. “If you can clear a background check and have about $900, you could walk out of Walmart with one of these in about 5 minutes. So what we have really is just comparable to what is out there on the streets.”
Even with these being the same weapons available to citizens, Thompson said he believes there may be a misconception about police departments using the M-16 rifle, which he said actually makes an ideal patrol rifle because it is easy to train on and easy to use.
“Many think it’s a new phenomenon, but the patrol rifle has been a part of law enforcement for many years. There have been different variants of patrol rifles, but a lot of departments today carry a model based on the AR-15 or the M-16,” he said. “We have some of the same needs as the military in that we are trying to train a lot of people from different backgrounds with different skill levels. The military has designed a weapon that is easy to train with, easy to maintain, and that’s what we’re looking for as well with those weapons. The ammunition is inexpensive and readily available for us so there again, it’s cost-efficient.”
When asked about the perceived need for a weapon like the M-16 rifle, Thompson said while it’s something officers hope to never have to use, the department does have to contend with certain crises that make the rifle a viable police weapon.
“Sometimes we get people, people who have access to these same weapons, who for whatever reason are in a state of crisis. This makes them a danger to themselves and other citizens and to us,” Thompson said. “So having these same guns allows us to better protect our communities, especially in these crisis situations.”
“But I will say this,” Thompson continued, “we have never fired one of these during the course of duty. Our officers train on them and have fired them at the range, but never in the course of duty.”
The department was also able to get a former military Humvee for just $250, which according to Thompson was a valuable asset during the ice storm that hit the city earlier this year.
“We used that hummer during the last ice storm to get out and try to pull people out and help as many citizens as we could,” said Thompson. “It was really the only thing we had with enough clearance and off-road capability to get out on the streets.”
Likewise, the MRAP, which is an armored vehicle, has the potential to be a very valuable tool to citizens in emergency situations. The vehicle’s size makes it ideal for a mobile command center, according to Thompson.
“The MRAP is an armored vehicle, but that’s not really why we got it,” Thompson said. “Once again, it’s a vehicle with very high clearance and off-road abilities. If we happen to have a major disaster, an earthquake or a major train derailment or something like that, that MRAP is our best hope for establishing some kind of mobile command center. It’s going to give us the ability to help people in ways we otherwise couldn’t.”
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