1033 program

See also: The Militarization of 'Officer Friendly'.  Militarization is a dangerous and ultimately deadly perversion of the honorable purpose of policing-and it is out of control.

Slide from the Defense Logistics Agency's brochure, describing the 1033 Program's transfer of military equipment to American police forces.
[Image source. Click image to open in new window.]

In the United States, the 1033 Program transfers excess military equipment to civilian law enforcement agencies. The program legally requires the Department of Defense to make various items of equipment available to local law enforcement. The 1033 program was instituted per Bill Clinton's 1997 National Defense Authorization Act, though precedents to it existed following World War II.

As of 2014, 8,000 local law enforcement agencies participated in the program that has transferred $5.1 billion in military material from the Department of Defense to law enforcement agencies since 1997. According to the Defense Logistics Agency, material worth $449 million was transferred in 2013 alone. Some of the most commonly requested items include ammunition, cold weather clothing, sand bags, medical supplies, sleeping bags, flashlights and electrical wiring. Small arms and vehicles such as aircraft, watercraft and armored vehicles have also been obtained.

The program has been criticized over the years by local media, by the Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense in 2003, and by the GAO which found waste, fraud and abuse. It was not until media coverage of police during August 2014 Ferguson unrest that the program drew nationwide public attention; the Ferguson Police Department had equipment obtained through the 1033 program.

President Obama signed Executive Order 13688 on May 2015 limiting and prohibiting certain types of equipment. On 28 August 2017 President Trump rolled back Obama's Executive Order. The ACLU and the NAACP have raised concerns about what they call the militarization of police forces in the US. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the move at the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) convention in Nashville, and said the president would do so by executive order. At the same time, Sessions and the director of the FOP pointed out that 1033 equipment can be used for lifesaving purposes, dismissing criticism of the program as "superficial concerns." The FOP also pointed out that the armored vehicles weren't tanks.

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Political responses

In August 2014, the militarized response to civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri led to increased criticism of the 1033 program:

• U.S. senator Rand Paul, a Republican, stated that the American government "has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts and helped municipal governments build what are essentially small armies."

• Congressman Hank Johnson, a Democrat, drafted legislation proposing to curb, but not end the 1033 program, urged legislative armed services committee to suspend the transfer of some equipment.

• President Obama ordered a review of the program.

In September 2014, Senator Claire McCaskill organized the Senate's first hearing on the program, and federal officials faced bipartisan criticism:

• Brian Kamoie, assistant administrator for grant programs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, stated that officials are conducting a review to determine if police forces deployed in Ferguson improperly used equipment purchased with the grants for riot suppression, which is not allowed. It was inconclusive from the questioning, how many times equipment was purchased with funds used to combat terrorism.

• Rear Admiral John Kirby, press secretary for the Pentagon, argued that the program has aided law enforcement across the US in counter-terrorism and counter-narcotic operation, and to protect civilians. He stated that the Pentagon was diligent in deciding what equipment was sent to specific police departments.

• Chuck Canterbury, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, argued that mass shootings could occur anywhere in the United States, even in small towns, and that the equipment obtained from the 1033 program is being used to protect civilians and law enforcement.

• Congressman Buck McKeon scheduled a United States House Committee on Armed Services subcommittee "Oversight and Investigations" hearing to examine the program, which was postponed.

• The House Judiciary Committee declined to review the program, stating that any review would follow an investigation by the Obama administration.

In October 2014,

• Congressman Hank Johnson urged the heads of the Armed Services Committees to adopt a moratorium on the transfer of certain items and to eliminate a section of the House version of the 2015 Defense bill, passed earlier in 2014, that would expand equipment transfers to border security, the nation's largest law enforcement agency.

In November 2014,

• Rand Paul's second Ferguson op-ed in Time did not mention the demilitarization of the police, which had been subject of his first op-ed.

• Steve Rabinovich, a police officer writing for police website PoliceOne.com, defended the 1033 program as necessary for protecting police officers from violent or deadly assaults by individuals or anti-government groups viewing police as scapegoats.

• The House Committee on Armed Services reviewed the program, interviewed four witnesses, including the president of the Police Foundation, the director of the National Tactical Officers Association, and two employees of the Department of Defense and their heads, Reps. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.) are working on a compromise of the 2015 defense authorization bill, instead of a moratorium.

• Senator McCaskill suggested that "Congress would seek to better train police to use transferred equipment."

• The White House had not released results of its review, promised in September, when National Guard of the United States was deployed to Ferguson and further unrest occurred after the grand jury decision in Ferguson. Police lobbying efforts, and the elections had rendered Congress lame duck, and the support for ending or changing the 1033 program dwindled.

In May 2015, following the 2015 Baltimore protests, Obama announced reviews of the use of military equipment, stating "We've seen how militarized gear sometimes gives people a feeling like they are an occupying force as opposed to a part of the community there to protect them," and "Some equipment made for the battlefield is not appropriate for local police departments."

Other criticism

Kara Dansky, senior counsel for the ACLU, wrote that the federal government is deliberately militarizing local law enforcement agencies.

According to a study by social scientist Dr. Casey Delehanty and colleagues, larger 1033 transfers are associated with increased killings by police.

Police department suspensions

DLA public-affairs chief Kenneth MacNevin stated in 2012, that "more than 30 Arizona police agencies have been suspended or terminated for failing to meet program standards and nine remain under suspension." One of them was the Maricopa County, Arizona law enforcement after failing to account for 20 of the 200 military weapons it had received. The suspension did not affect police acquisition of high powered weaponry due to anti-racketeering or confiscated drug funds, according to Maricopa's Sheriff.

In North Carolina, law officials are working to reinstate the 1033 program through more rigorous inventory management, after the state was suspended for failing to account for some transferred equipment. North Carolina officials state that 3,303 out of the 4,227 pieces of equipment obtained through the program are tactical items including automatic weapons and military vehicles and the remainder is not used in combat, and includes cots, containers and generators.

Fusion reported in August 2014 that a total of 184 state and local police departments had been suspended from the program for missing weapons and failure to comply with guidelines. Missing items included M14 and M16 assault rifles, pistols, shotguns, and two Humvee vehicles.

Investigative journalist Susan Katz Keating reported in October 2017 that certain elements of the program were restored despite the compliance issues.

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