(Update, 4:38 p.m.: We forgot Glenn Heights.)
The town of Edgewood sits 60 miles due east of downtown Dallas, off US-80. It’s got about 1,400 residents and a busy Dairy Queen. The total size of the town is barely one square mile. And over the past 20 years the U.S. Department of Defense has provided the town’s police department with $1,585,908 worth of rifles, trucks, trailers, barbed wire, and dozens of other items.
The transfer is known as the 1033 Program, launched in October 1995 by the Pentagon as a way to distribute weapons, vehicles, and other supplies to police departments nationwide, with little or no oversight as to their need or use. This week, for the first time, the Pentagon released the names of those departments and the supplies they received. The Marshall Project broke them down, and found that the program has given out $5 billion worth of equipment since its inception, including tactical military equipment worth more than $1.4 billion. Close to 7,500 agencies nationwide have been a part of the program.
Below you’ll find a breakdown of every North Texas municipality that received items in the past 20 years. Thirty-four different departments have received supplies, to the tune of nearly $8.6 $9.4 million. (Overall, Texas has received at least $191 million in equipment; the highest total for a single department is the Harris County Sheriff Department, with a whopping $26.8 million.)
Some takeaways:
– Six Seven different departments/municipalities have received mine-resistant vehicles: Bedford, the Dallas County Sheriff Department, Desoto, Duncanville, Glenn Heights, Mansfield, and the Rockwall County Sheriff Department. Is there some sort of war in southern Dallas County that I’m unaware of?
– The Dallas division of the FBI received 99 bomb-disposal robots. 99! And that’s not even counting robots the FBI might’ve bought with its own money.
– Some departments bucked the “let’s militarize our 25,000-person town” trend, and went small. Well done, Flower Mound (25 pairs of safety glasses, $1,395).
– If you haven’t read Eric’s column from earlier this year about the militarization of local police forces (“Why Are North Texas Cops Preparing For War?“), this is a good time to look back.
– Here is the complete list, with every piece of equipment distributed. Happy hunting.
***
Azle Police Department: $71,170
Most expensive item: one truck, $41,061
Bedford Police Department: $800,082
Most expensive item: one mine-resistant vehicle, $733,000
Carrollton Police Department: $772
Most expensive item: two night-vision sights, $772
Collin County Constable’s Office, Precinct 4: $352
Most expensive item: six .45-caliber pistols, $352
Dallas County Sheriff’s Department: $721,074
Most expensive item: one mine-resistant vehicle, $658,000
Denton Constable, Precinct 2: $21,226
Most expensive item: 16 holographic sights, $9,220
Denton County Sheriff Department: $60,916
Most expensive item: one truck, $56,762
Denton Police Department: $11,874
Most expensive item: one night-vision viewer, $11,874
Desoto Police Department: $736,312
Most expensive item: one mine-resistant vehicle, $733,000
Duncanville Police Department: $907,271
Most expensive item: one mine-resistant vehicle, $733,000
Ennis Police Department: $4,990
Most expensive item: 10 rifles, $4,990
Everman Police Department: $1,136
Most expensive item: two rifles, $998
Farmers Branch Police Department: $73,280
Most expensive item: one armored truck, $65,070
Flower Mound Police Department: $1,395
Most expensive item: 25 pairs of safety glasses, $1,395
Frisco Police Department: $11,084
Most expensive item: 20 rifles, $9,980
Glenn Heights Police Department: $733,000
Most expensive item: one mine-resistant vehicle, $733,000
Grand Prairie Police Department: $3,750
Most expensive item: three carbine barrels, $1,026
Keller Police Department: $4,990
Most expensive item: 10 rifles, $4,990
Lewisville Police Department: $32,182
Most expensive item: two night-vision image intensifier tubes: $23,764
Mansfield Police Department: $733,000
Most expensive item: one mine-resistant vehicle, $733,000
McKinney Police Department: $9,417
Most expensive item: 15 rifles, $7,485
Mesquite Police Department: $65,070
Most expensive item: one armored vehicle, $65,070
Mountain View College Police Department: $276
Most expensive item: one rifle, $276
Murphy Police Department: $414
Most expensive item: three rifles, $414
Pantego Police Department: $138
Most expensive item: one rifle, $138
Richardson Police Department: $1,518
Most expensive item: 11 rifles, $1,518
Rockwall County Sheriff Department: $693,578
Most expensive item: one mine-resistant vehicle, $689,000
Sachse Police Department: $123,877
Most expensive item: one tactical computer, $62,389
University of North Texas Health Science: $2,994
Most expensive item: six rifles, $2,994
UT-Arlington Police: $8,500
Most expensive item: 25 reflex sights, $8,500
US Department of Justice, DEA, Dallas Office: $89,364
Most expensive item: one truck, $41,061
US Department of Justice, DEA, Fort Worth Office: $74,691
Most expensive item: 11 night-vision image intensifier tubes, $70,312
US FBI, Main Dallas Division: $2,436,844
Most expensive item: 99 explosive ordnance disposal robots, $990,000
Watauga Department of Public Safety: $83,885
Most expensive item: two trucks, $82,122
Wylie Police Department: $783,734
Most expensive item: one mine-resistant vehicle, $733,000
