Media Trackers – by Brian Sikma
Millions of dollars in high-tech war fighting equipment is flooding Wisconsin law enforcement agencies thanks to a federal program designed to give police departments access to tools originally designed for soldiers. According to records from the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs, thousands of items ranging from armored vehicles and fast boats to sophisticated imaging systems and fully automatic weapons have been transferred from the military to local police and sheriff’s departments.
Because of Wisconsin’s open records law, Media Trackers reviewed a DMA spreadsheet that listed all so-called 1033 transfers from the U.S. Department of Defense to state and local law enforcement. Over 160 individual agencies and departments obtained free equipment or weapons through the program between July 2004 and May 2014.
The Dane County Sheriff’s office in Madison received 151 fully automatic M-16 rifles, a Zodiac boat, night vision and infrared equipment, and miscellaneous other equipment. Nearby, the Dane County District Attorney’s office, led by Democratic attorney general candidate Ismael Ozanne, got 3 M-16 rifles.
The state’s Fox Lake Correctional Institution got 169 surplus combat helmets. The Milwaukee Police Department also got helmets, but they got 149 of them. Located next to Milwaukee, the Germantown Police Department got 30 helmets.
In Door County, the Sturgeon Bay Police Department got 105 laptops for a department in a town with a population of 9,144.
The town of New Lisbon, population 2,521, got 3 cargo trucks for its police department.
The single most popular weapon to be distributed to local departments is the M-16 rifle, which has been the military’s standard combat rifle since Vietnam. Today’s versions have been substantially upgraded since the original models were introduced, but they all pack a powerful, fully-automatic capable punch. The M-14, which shoots a heavier round and is based on an older design, and .45 caliber pistols were also distributed to law enforcement through the program.
The state Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation obtained 95 M-16 rifles, 25 .45 caliber pistols, and 4 heavy duty M-14 rifles thanks to the military’s generosity.
In Fond du Lac, the police department there got 34 M-16 rifles and 10 M-14 rifles.
Sheriffs in Juneau, Pierce, Portage, Racine, Rock, Washington and St. Croix counties each got between 23 and 33 M-16s for their respective departments, and some got suppressors and reflex sights for their weapons as well.
The Ozaukee County Sheriff got 1 truck and 17 M-16 rifles.
The Oregon Police Department got 9 M-14 rifles.
The Wood County Sheriff picked up 43 pistols through the program.
Waukesha police got 10 M-16 rifles and 15 M-14 rifles.
Dozens of other departments also got weapons, and those acquisitions are listed on the interactive map prepared by Media Trackers below.
In addition to miscellaneous vehicles, the biggest ticket items given law enforcement are the Mine Resistant Ambush Protection Vehicles, MRAPs for short, and Zodiac boats. MRAPs on average cost the federal government between $400,000 and $750,000 per vehicle, and the Zodiac boats, which vary in size, cost between $7,500 and $47,000 per copy.
In addition to Dane County, sheriffs in Jackson, Jefferson, Columbia and Grant counties got Zodiac boats for their departments. The Green Bay Police Department also got a Zodiac boat.
Previous Media Trackers research found that at least five Wisconsin law enforcement agencies obtained MRAPs through the 1033 program. Now, according to DMA records and other research, it is confirmed that 10 agencies have the heavy-duty armored combat vehicles in their inventory.
The master list of 1033 program distributions from the DMA lists the following recipients of MRAPs:
Portage County Sheriff
St. Croix County Sheriff
Appleton Police Department
Oak Creek Police Department
Madison Police Department
Juneau County Sheriff
Eau Claire County Sheriff
Brown County Sheriff
Media reports indicate that the Door County Sheriff also has an ex-military MRAP, and the Racine County Sheriff is also confirmed to have an MRAP as well as an ex-military armored personal carrierthat saw use in Kuwait.
Officials with the various agencies that have obtained the heavy-duty combat machines say they are needed to keep the public safe, but some of them are being kept by departments in areas that don’t have a high crime rate.
Racine County, for example, has a population of 194,797, but according to FBI crime statistics data from 2012 – the latest year for which complete data is available – Racine County law enforcement only reported 18 violent crimes. The City of Racine, on the other hand, reported 374 violent crimes, and while the thunderous MRAP beasts owned by the county sheriff are available for their use, they are practically useless in the majority of situations since they must be brought to the scene from their storage location.
Door County, which has an MRAP, reported only 1 homicide in 2012, and the largest town in the county, Sturgeon Bay, reported no homicides in 2012.
Sheriffs in Portage, Juneau and Eau Claire counties, and the Appleton Police Department reported zero homicides in their jurisdictions in 2012 according to FBI data, but nevertheless they all have MRAPs.
The map below lists the myriad of acquisitions made by Wisconsin law enforcement agencies through the 1033 program.
“According to records from the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs, thousands of items ranging from armored vehicles and fast boats to sophisticated imaging systems and fully automatic weapons have been transferred from the military to local police and sheriff’s departments.”
I’m certain the good nationals of WI will be more than happy to relieve them of all that cumbersome hardware.