While the militarization of domestic law enforcement is nothing new, there’s always surprises to be found in the increasingly combat-ready arsenals of local police departments.

Members of the Johnston, Rhode Island, Police Department SWAT team stand outside the station with some of the surplus military equipment they have accumulated. (Photo: Glenn Osmundson/The Providence Journal)
An investigation by Chicago’s local ABC Affiliate, WLS, reveals that the military surplus program has left local law enforcement agencies throughout Illinois armed for battle, with everything from high powered automatic weapons and armored battlefield vehicles to combat helicopters.
The police department at Benedictine University, a catholic school in Lisle, Illinois, has two M-16 rifles and a Humvee, courtesy of the Military Surplus program.
The University’s police chief, Michael Slatino, told WLS that “Short of a weapon of mass destruction, you can get any kind of military gear that’s out there.” He added that the automatic rifles and Humvee, which is used as a command center, “gives the community a sense that they’re dealing with a professional law enforcement agency.” I think he’s mistaking “law enforcement agency” with “military soldiers.”
Police at Brookfield Zoo, located in the Chicago suburb of Brookfield, acquired M-16 and M-14 combat rifles thanks to the Pentagon program. The crazy part is that they actually believe they need them:
A Brookfield spokesperson would not say how many guns they got but said zoo police are thankful that they are better able to protect the public, the animals and save money.
Police in Round Lake Park, Illinois, which has a population of just around 7,500, didn’t want to be left out:
In far north suburban Round Lake Park, the police department is fully outfitted by the LESO program equipment, from a Hummer used for patrols and SWAT deployments to an armored vehicle, a snowmobile, a segway and an ATV.
The department’s 17 officers each have a military patrol rifle but they also have this battering ram.
“Somebody is not responding to the door, maybe an elderly person or somebody disabled, we may need to make entry into their home,” Round Lake Park Police Department Chief Dan Burch said.
The Round Lake Park Police also have special forces night vision devices, an expensive digital evidence camera, a brand new Apple computer, two flat-screen televisions and even the carpet tiles on the floor came from the program.
Even more disturbing is that the Chicago Police Department lost some of their military hand-me-downs, among them body army and night vision goggles. If they can’t keep track of those, whose to say they won’t lose an M16 or two?
Based on heavily redacted documents WLS obtained throughout the FOIA, they learned that Illinois law enforcement agencies have received $37 million dollars worth of equipment from the Pentagon. Unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing exactly the type of weapons police departments have obtained because that information is blacked out because otherwise, say defense officials, it would be a threat to homeland security.
The most common critique of the military surplus program is that it’s a waste of taxpayer money, which isn’t wrong. But the bigger issue here that often gets missed is the increasing militarization of domestic law enforcement, whose supposed to be tasked with keeping the peace while upholding the constitution.
When you dress, train and arm civilian police officers like combat soldiers, eventually they’re going to start acting like their fighting a war and the American people are the inevitable enemy. This has almost always been the case for communities of color and political activists, whose civil rights are routinely violated by police decked out in military gear eerily similar to that of a soldier in Afghanistan.
Before people start commenting that this is purpose of the second amendment, to save us from the creeping police state, I want to point out the ridiculousness of the notion that citizens armed with semi-automatic rifles have a fighting chance in the face of combat helicopters, automatic rifles, grenades, body armor and the plethora of other military weaponry passed down to police departments.
The gun lovers who fantasize about armed insurrection often mention their distrust of the government. Until I see them engage in nonviolent direct action against the US government’s repression abroad and systemic violation of the first amendment, I won’t take their ideas seriously.
Fear mongering is the sales pitch that weapon manufacturers use in order to remain in business. Special interest in Washington give favors to elected officials in return for government contracts in the name of “domestic security”. This is known as the “Iron Triangle” among political scientists.
Until this practice is outlawed(which I don’t think it will) , the militarization of law enforcement will continue.
Interesting type of journalism, you take a picture from one news article and the main body of another news article add some stupid comments and call it yours.