After the death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the city became a war zone as protesters clashed with police. Some wondered how a local police department could be equipped with military weapons, tanks and other equipment.
The Pentagon’s 1033 program allowed local police departments to request military equipment that was created for war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. U.S. Congressman Hank Johnson recently sat down with rolling out to discuss the 1033 Program and how he plans to put an end to police militarization.
We all witnessed how the Ferguson Police Department armed themselves as if they were fighting a war. How did a local police department with a population that is less than 30,000 get their hands on such equipment?
There is a Department of Defense program called the 1033 Program. It allows surplus military equipment to be requested by local law enforcement agencies. They can simply fill out a one-page form, view the equipment available online and send in the request. The only approval process was a certified stamp. As long as they could pick it up in 14 days, they could have it. Through that process, free military equipment was flowing from the streets of Iraq and Afghanistan through the Department of Defense to local law enforcement agencies for deployment on the streets of this nation.
How are you planning to take action against the 1033 Program?
We have legislation that we have drafted for the past eight months. We’re still revising [it] as we speak. We’re taking in recommendations from members of the U.S. House and Senate. We’re preparing to file it when we return on Sept. 8. We hope to have a bunch of co-sponsors and it will be bipartisan. That will be great considering the public attention on Ferguson. There is a good opportunity for us to get something done. We want to produce changes to the 1033 Program.
In Ferguson last week, we saw police aiming high caliber weapons at unarmed citizens. Members of the military said that weapons aren’t raised unless they are planning to shoot. Were the local police who received the military weapons trained or given guidelines on how or when the weapons could be used?
The 1033 Program does not require training on how, when and where to use the equipment. As a result, it becomes dangerous in the hands of someone who doesn’t know how and when to use it. It’s like giving a child a gun. A child doesn’t know how to use a gun, so he may pull the trigger and someone will get shot. The main issue is the transfer of military equipment to local law enforcement who may not need the equipment and are not trained on how to use it.
