Grenade Launcher, Armored Vehicles Among U.S. Military's Gifts to Ohio Law Enforcement!
- Police Dept spokesman: “It’s just for deer hunting! Don’t worry about it! Heh heh!”
– - Grenade launcher, armored vehicles among U.S. military’s gifts to Ohio law enforcement!
by Jeremy Pelzer, Northeast Ohio Media Group The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com/
COLUMBUS, Ohio—The U.S. military has given mine-resistant vehicles, assault rifles, a grenade launcher, and thousands of other pieces of free surplus military equipment to law enforcement agencies around Ohio in recent years, state records show.
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Under the Department of Defense’s 1033 program, state troopers, sheriff’s departments, city police departments and even university police in Ohio have received nearly 4,900 assault rifles since 2006, according to state Department of Public Safety records obtained Monday by Northeast Ohio Media Group.
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Ohio law enforcement agencies also successfully asked the Pentagon for a total of 743 rifles, 683 pistols, and 36 mine-resistant vehicles during the past eight years, according to DPS statistics. In 2008, the Delaware Police Department received an M79 grenade launcher to fire tear gas canisters.
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The Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office received more than 30 M16 and M14 rifles between 2006 and 2008, according to state records. Cleveland Metroparks rangers were given 17 assault rifles in 2009 and received a number of flak jackets and night-vision goggles earlier this month.
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Cleveland police, however, did not receive any surplus military equipment, according to a department spokeswoman.
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Columbus police accepted 350 assault rifles under the 1033 program, while Toledo police received 142 rifles and two personnel carriers, DPS records showed. Akron police were sent 89 M16s between 2006 and 2008.
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The only Ohio county not to receive any military gear from the program since 2006 was Van Wert County, in the northwest part of the state, according to the New York Times.
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Delaware Police Department spokesman Capt. Adam Moore said most of the equipment his department has received, including the grenade launcher, is available to police even without the 1033 program.
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Delaware police also received several assault rifles and a mine-resistant vehicle for high-risk situations, such as an active shooter. But neither the guns nor the vehicle have yet been used, Moore said.
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The equipment, he said, “is really used for the safety of the citizens, the safety of our officers, and it’s going to be very controlled and policy-driven on when and how it’s used.”
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