Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Police Department Unable to Account for Missing Military Style Weapons

By Associated Press

13 September 14

he federal government dropped the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office from the program that funnels surplus military equipment to police departments because the Arizona agency cannot account for some weapons, Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Thursday.

The sheriff, whose agency patrols unincorporated areas of the county that includes most of the Phoenix area, said he recently received termination letters from the U.S. Defense Department and the program's coordinator for Arizona.

Arpaio's agency was suspended from the program in 2012 because it was missing eight handguns and one M-16 rifle from among the hundreds of weapons it received through the program. Arpaio said his office tried but failed to locate the missing weapons, including checking whether retired deputies had them.

The sheriff said he has 120 days to return the equipment, which also includes night-vision goggles and helicopters, or transfer them to another agency. He said he will ask for extra time to return a search-and-rescue helicopter until the county receives a new helicopter it is buying.

Otherwise, the office has plenty of firepower it got through other means and won't miss the military surplus equipment, Arpaio said.

Public safety "is not going to be hurting," he said, citing a recent purchase of hundreds of semi-automatic rifles for deputies. "We've got plenty of our own stuff."

The federal program began in 1990 as a way to help states and local agencies fight drug-related crime and expanded in the mid-1990s. It has come under increasing scrutiny recently, with critics such as the American Civil Liberties Union complaining that it has contributed to a militarization of police agencies.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety, another beneficiary of the program, said the weapons and vehicles keep deputies safe in dangerous situations.

"Vehicles are a big deal for us because we need to have the kind of vehicles that have steel-plated armor when we go into a dangerous situation with our SWAT team," DPS spokesman Bart Graves said. "In our case, vehicles are a constant need just by the amount of usage the highway patrol gives to vehicles across the state."

The program's state coordinator, Payson police Detective Matthew Van Camp, confirmed that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office was no longer part of the program because of the missing weapons.

"I haven't had an agency (in Arizona) terminated in this fashion," Van Camp said.

The Arizona Republic first reported the termination.

In Yavapai County, law enforcement agencies have received dozens of rifles, several armored vehicles and bomb-disposal robots.

Prescott Police Chief Jerald Monahan told The Daily Courier that his department needs the weapons and vehicles as a "just in case" solution to a situation such as a school shooting.

"Everything we have received, I believe, has a place in what law enforcement is facing in today's environment," Monahan said.

In the last eight years, Arizona's police departments have bought more than 500 guns, five helicopters and two planes from the Pentagon.

Arpaio's office is not the only Arizona agency to run into problems with the program.

Federal officials in 2012 ordered the Pinal County Sheriff's Office to recover trucks and other equipment loaned to non-police agencies, such as fire and ambulance units, in violation of the program's rules.

The Arizona ACLU has said the arming of police far outpaces any threat they may encounter.

"Tanks, sharp-shooting -- it's military grade equipment that they're using in communities," ACLU Arizona Executive Director Alessandra Soler said.

Soler accused police of conducting about 50,000 paramilitary raids annually using equipment provided in the wake of 9/11 that was supposed to be sued to fight terrorism.

"They were given equipment to fight terrorism but it's now being used to fight against the local communities," Soler explained. "The equipment far outpaces the threat and that's what the situation is (in Ferguson)."

Soler said it's basically a case of too many toys in the cabinet.

"They've been amassing it since 9/11 when we were spending all of these resources trying to defend the country," she said. "And now, where is this supposed to go?"

In the wake of the criticism, the U.S. said it is rethinking the program. President Barack Obama is also reviewing the program.

The review will be led by White House staff including the Domestic Policy Council, the National Security Council, the Office of Management and Budget, and agencies such as the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice and Treasury. The officials say the review will be coordinated with Congress, where several lawmakers have called for a re-examination of the military-to-police programs.

Obama acknowledged that the images of well-armed police confronting protesters with combat weapons in Ferguson made it useful to review how local law enforcement agencies have used federal grants that permit them to obtain heavier armaments.

"There is a big difference between our military and our local law enforcement, and we don't want those lines blurred," Obama told reporters at the White House. "That would be contrary to our traditions."