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Local law enforcement uses surplus military gear [The Salina Journal, Kan.](Salina Journal (KS) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sept. 20--No tank, but Salina does have a grenade launcher The Salina Police Department does not have a tank. It does have a grenade launcher -- but maybe not for much longer. Though some people for years have questioned the growing militarization of local law enforcement, the issue gained new prominence in recent weeks after images of police in Ferguson, Mo., dealing with protests flashed across the country. Especially called into question is a Department of Defense program that allows local governments to acquire free or nearly free surplus military equipment -- ranging from file cabinets, computer monitors and lawn mowers to armored vehicles and automatic rifles. One community in Arizona received 300 square feet of leather. Both the Salina Police Department and Saline County Sheriff's Office have made use of the program over the years. "Back in the day, when Darrell Wilson was sheriff, we got all kinds of stuff -- raincoats, boots, parkas -- and it was great to have that," Sheriff Glen Kochanowski said. Since Kochanowski became sheriff, his office has also received more military-type equipment, including night-vision goggles and 26 M-16 rifles. Night-vision goggles "Night-vision goggles are really expensive, and we can't afford to buy them and just have them laying around," he said. "We mostly use them to help find somebody who's missing, like a runaway, or if an elderly person wanders away from home." The goggles are a little outdated, Kochanowski said, and are a generation or two behind what the military uses now -- but the price was right. The M-16s, Kochanowski said, are too long and unwieldy for some events, and some have malfunctioned. "We're looking for something shorter, that's better for dealing with an active shooter in a building," he said. "We want safer guns." Kochanowski added that the M-16s were modified by the military to fire two-round bursts with one trigger pull, and are not fully automatic. Uses for vehicles The sheriff's office also has a 2Ôªø1/2-ton, olive drab truck, which it acquired through the Department of Defense -- but in a roundabout way. The Salina Airport Authority originally got the truck through an FAA program that distributes military surplus. "We kept it for a year, and didn't have any use for it," said Tim Rogers, executive director of the Salina Airport Authority. "It was about the time of all the flooding in New Cambria in 2008. We reached out to the sheriff and asked if he wanted it, and he said 'Oh, yes.' " Such trucks can drive in up to 5 feet of water, making them ideal for rescuing people from flooding, Kochanowski said. The truck can usually be seen parked on the north side of Memorial Hall, next to the county's former juvenile detention center. The Salina Police Department has two military surplus vehicles, a Humvee and a Puma armored personnel carrier. Chief Brad Nelson said the Humvee is useful in situations such as bringing officers to work during heavy snowfalls, and the Puma gets used a few times a year, typically when a criminal suspect is barricaded in a house. "It goes out as needed," Nelson said. "That's not every time the SWAT is deployed. It's an armored platform between bad stuff and you ... and us." No, it's not a tank Nelson wants to stress the Puma isn't a "tank," a term some reporters used to describe the armored personnel carriers they saw on the streets of Ferguson. "It's not a tank -- it doesn't have any fixed weapons," Nelson said, explaining that its purpose is to allow law enforcement to approach a dangerous situation in safety. The police department's military surplus also has 17 M-16 rifles (a department inventory list states they are semi-automatic) and 10 12-gauge shotguns, which are carried in patrol cars, plus one M-14 rifle and one set of binoculars that are used by the SWAT team. The grenade launcher The grenade launcher, a Vietnam-era M-79, is also assigned to the SWAT team, and is listed in the department's inventory as a "40 mm gas gun." The department has had an M-79 since 1991, said Capt. Chris Trocheck, explaining it was requested about the time the department formed its SWAT team, as a way to deliver tear gas. The department doesn't have any explosive grenades; the M-79's sole purpose is to deliver tear gas, Nelson said. "We've never used it," Trocheck said, and it's been returned to the Defense Department a time or two after a period of not being used and another one acquired. The current one has never been taken out of its crate, Trocheck said. If it hasn't been used, even in training, Nelson said, he might look into returning it. Or, you could just buy it All of the equipment the department acquired through the surplus program was acquired before he became chief nine months ago, but Nelson said he was familiar with the program from his years with the Columbia (Mo.) Police Department. The SWAT team there got a Peacekeeper armored personnel carrier through the program, Nelson said, and it proved its worth to the point that when its engine and transmission went out -- and none were available as surplus -- the city commission agreed to buy a Bearcat armored vehicle for its $227,587 sticker price. "Almost anything you can get through the DoD, you can also just buy," Kochanowski said. "If you have a quarter million dollars, or a half-million dollars." But the fact that such equipment is free or nearly free doesn't justify a shopping spree, Nelson said. "We're not going to ask for anything we're not going to use," he said. "And the DoD is not going to give us something we couldn't use." A 1997 L.A. bank robbery The idea of what's necessary for local law enforcement has changed over the years, with one serious turning point being a bank robbery in Los Angeles in 1997, Nelson said. In that incident, two bank robbers wearing body armor and carrying powerful automatic rifles engaged in a 45-minute gun battle with police; the robbers' rifles could penetrate police body armor -- but the police were mostly equipped with handguns and shotguns that couldn't get through the robbers' armor. Several police went to a nearby gun dealer, and borrowed AR-15 rifles, and when the SWAT team arrived, they appropriated an armored truck and used it to safely evacuate wounded officers and civilians. "The police were going to a gun store and asking to borrow rifles, because they were outgunned," Nelson said. Do you need an APC? At the same time, Nelson said, departments need to be realistic about what they're likely to go up against. "I would question why a town of 5,000 needs an armored personnel carrier," Nelson said. "Once you have one, there's a desire to use it." "You don't take it out just because you have it," Kochanowski said. "Not every time you're serving a search warrant." "I feel strongly that the equipment we need, we have available," Nelson said. "If we were right next to Topeka, I'm not sure we'd need an armored personnel carrier," because Salina could borrow Topeka's if the need arose. Likewise, Kochanowski doesn't see any reason to have his own armored personnel carrier. "What the police department has is exactly what we need here -- and we work together," he said. Kochanowski added his office was looking into asking for trailer-mounted generators, to light up crime scenes and other locations at night, but then local fire departments began buying generators and lights on poles, which he can use if needed. A psychological effect While an armored personnel carrier offers physical protection to police approaching a potentially dangerous situation, Nelson said it provides other advantages as well. "There's a psychological effect," he said. "I've seen people surrender at my former job on the arrival of the APC." That's an outcome, he says, that's safer for everyone involved. But it's also possible to look too scary. Since Nelson became chief in Salina, he's had modifications made to the Puma, including adding additional red and blue lights, having the word "Rescue" stenciled on its sides, and adding additional markings to indicate it's a Salina police vehicle. You're cops, not soldiers And that extends to more than just vehicles, Nelson and Kochanowski said. "You don't dress like a military man who's going to work," Kochanowski said, referring to how many police were dressed during the unrest in Ferguson. For a situation like that, "you get a helmet, body armor, a shield if you need one, and this," he said, flipping the collar on his blue uniform shirt. To press his point, Kochanowski grabs two recent law enforcement equipment magazines, both depicting SWAT teams. In one, the police are wearing blue "If you have police in military BDUs (battle dress uniforms), carrying military weapons, it creates a perception -- an understandable perception," Nelson said. Law enforcement and soldiers have different jobs, Kochanowski said. "A soldier's job is the security of the nation, and they have to be ready to kill at any time," he said. "They don't ask questions -- if you're the enemy, you're going to die." Law enforcement might also see criminals as the enemy, he said, "but someone who has committed a crime isn't killed." The officer and the scope Both saw many things wrong with the way the unrest in Ferguson was handled, and plenty of blame to be spread among law enforcement, politicians and the news media. But both zeroed in on one particular image; a police officer dressed black and prone on top of an armored personnel carrier, watching the crowd through the scope of his rifle. "You never point a gun at someone unless you're intending to shoot, and you never shoot unless you're intending to kill," Kochanowski said. "If you're wanting to watch the crowd, you use binoculars, night vision goggles, or even a camera with a big lens." "The guy with the scoped rifle -- he should have been using binoculars," Nelson said. It's a difficult balance Maintaining control during such tense situations means striking a difficult balance between over-reacting and under-reacting, Nelson said. "The number of officers coming in was impressive," he said. "But I don't know how many of them had training in civil unrest." The rioting during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago was an example of over-reacting, Nelson said, adding that many people now call it a "police riot," while the rioting in Los Angeles in 1992 after police accused of beating Rodney King were acquitted was an example of under-reaction. And Nelson said he was "disappointed" to see police stand by in Ferguson and allow stores to be looted. -- Reporter Mike Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by email at [email protected]. ___ (c)2014 The Salina Journal (Salina, Kan.) Visit The Salina Journal (Salina, Kan.) at www.saljournal.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |