The Pentagon's 1033 Program allows local law enforcement agencies to acquire surplus military gear -- including weapons, medical equipment and vehicles -- at no cost.
Which Minnesota law enforcement agencies are getting military gear?
Minnesota-based law enforcement agencies have acquired around 8,500 pieces of military-grade equipment from the Pentagon's 1033 Program over the years, including weapons, medical supplies and vehicles.
August 20, 2014 at 5:23PM
About 8,500 individual pieces of military equipment were transferred to law enforcement agencies in Minnesota since the program's inception in the early 1990's, according to public data obtained by the Star Tribune.
On Monday, President Barack Obama ended long-running federal transfers of some of the combat-style gear to local law enforcement in an attempt to ease tensions between police and minority communities, saying equipment made for the battlefield should not be a tool of American criminal justice.
Grenade launchers, bayonets, tracked armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft and vehicles, firearms and ammunition of .50-caliber or higher will no longer be provided to state and local police agencies by the federal government under Obama's order.
Between September 2011 and September 2013, Minnesota agencies acquired $4.2 million in surplus military gear, according to federal data. About $25 million in military inventory has been transferred to Minnesota police departments and other organizations overall, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
More than 8,000 federal and state agencies from every U.S. state and territory have participated in the program.
Read more on this subject: Tons of military equipment donated to Minnesota police, sheriffs
Source: Minnesota Department of Public Safety, U.S. Defense Logistics Agency
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