The Trump administration is set to restart a program that allows the flow of certain types of surplus military equipment and weapons to state and local law enforcement.
The so-called militarization of police, which is made possible by the Department of Defense’s 1033 program, was scaled back by former President Barack Obama in 2015 after the Ferguson, Mo., riots in August 2014 became a major controversy.
The Obama order still allowed the transfer of equipment such as tactical vehicles, non-lethal weapon launchers and riot gear if the state and local police departments were able to prove a need. But armored vehicles, bayonets, grenade launchers and large-caliber weapons and ammunition were barred from transfer.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the change Monday morning in a speech to the Fraternal Order of Police in Nashville.
President Trump will sign an executive order rescinding the Obama policy later on Monday, and it will go into effect immediately.
The new executive order “will ensure that you can get the lifesaving gear that you need to do your job and send a strong message that we will not allow criminal activity, violence and lawlessness to become the new normal,” Sessions said Monday.
The Defense Department’s Excess Property Program has been authorized under federal law since the 1990s. The program provides a surplus of Defense Department military style equipment and weapons to state and local law enforcement agencies for use in “counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism operations,” as well as to “enhance officer safety.”
White House background documents highlight the importance of using the military-grade surplus material to bolster public safety, which has been a top priority for Sessions’ Justice Department.
The Trump administration also cites two studies published this month in the American Economic Journal.
In one of the studies, the authors argue that transferring the military equipment and weapons to state and local law enforcement had “generally positive effects” and “reduced street-level crime.”
For every $5,800 in military surplus given to state and local law enforcement agencies, society saved roughly $112,000 in costs due to prevented crime, one of the studies says.
One of the White House background documents says the equipment obtained through the 1033 program would be otherwise unaffordable by the state and local law enforcement agencies, allowing them to do key policing activities better.
“We’ve seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people a feeling like there’s an occupying force, as opposed to a force that’s part of the community that’s protecting them and serving them,” Obama said in May 2015 when announcing an executive order ending the 1033 program. “It can alienate and intimidate local residents, and send the wrong message. So we’re going to prohibit some equipment made for the battlefield that is not appropriate for local police departments.”
Sessions said Monday that Obama’s restrictions “went too far.”
“We will not put superficial concerns above public safety,” Sessions said.
Sessions said to “turn on the TV” to see how state and local law enforcement are using such equipment for their search-and-rescue efforts in Houston following historic flooding from Hurricane Harvey.
The Fraternal Order of Police, which is the nation’s largest police union, endorsed Trump’s campaign in September and has been a vocal supporter of Sessions since he took the helm of the Justice Department.
According to the Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services, materiel worth nearly $460 million was transferred in 2013 alone.
The DLA also mandates that state and local law enforcement must declare the intended use for each item received from the 1033 program.
The program drew bipartisan criticism following the Ferguson unrest.
During a September 2014 hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called the police response in Ferguson “fundamentally un-American” and called the transfer of military material “inappropriate.”
