Something is rotten in the state of ... (PD's lose loads of military-issues weapons)

[Moose-Knuckle]

The issue I have with the article is it is trying to tie in the events in Ferguson, MO. to the DoD's 1033 Program.

Haunting images of local police officials using military-issued equipment to quell protests in Ferguson, Missouri, have raised new concerns about the Pentagon's controversial program to equip local and state police departments with military surplus weaponry.

The very image they have on the story cover is a St. Louis SWAT member armed a semi-automatic RRA mid-length carbine. No M16's, M14's or 1911's were in any of the pics that I have seen of the race riot in MO. No HUMVEEs or MRAPs either, saw a couple of Lenco Bear Cats which are LE specific.

As for the other agencies that reveived firearms, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and bet they do not have the funding to purchase their officers/SWAT members ARs so they qualify for the 1033 Program. Better to get a beat up M16A1 than nothing but your sidearm if the need were to arise. I think it will be found these "missing" arms were stolen and sold for profit.

[CoryCop25]

What this article conveniently leaves out is the fact that as of 1/1/2014, the government totally changed the way they track these weapons.
We used to have a paper with all the serial numbers of the .gov weapons listed signed by the Chief or Sheriff and then the armorer had to also sign that paper when the numbers were checked. It was a super stupid system that was easy to falsify.
Now, you have to take digital photos of the weapons and their serial numbers and send them to a .gov email.
I am sure that there are some missing weapons. When there are so many out there, it's going to happen. However, once the departments adhere to the new system, more of these weapons will be accounted for.
My department has 3 weapons from this program. I can't imagine what departments like Philly are doing when they have hundreds of them.

[J-Dub]

"But the rush to arm America’s police departments made oversight difficult. Grant programs overlapped. Money often flowed to state governments first before arriving in local police departments, making it hard to track. In 2009, auditors cited examples of state governments that could not verify what equipment local authorities had bought."

The above quote is from a linked article within the now working link posted in the OP. Pretty interesting that Fusion takes the word of the NY Times in one breath, but over looks the fact that the NY Times pretty openly states, the U.S. Govt doesn't even know to track what they've handed out.

Secondly, if you actually read through the bibliography of "missing guns", there are some gems they use to boost numbers. How about a weapon stolen from an Officer's home....really? That's the Dept's fault? I would venture to guess that 99.99% of the weapons that are considered "missing" were traded in, since most of the M16's, M15's, and M14's have been done away with since they are older than dirt. Also it would be nice if they actually cited/linked to the documents where this information was provided.

But hey, I wish the Fed's weren't given Police anything, that way people could find something else to bitch about. Like their uniforms not being made of wool, no bus driver hats, and scary sunglasses.

Now everyone show off their chest rigs and gear bombed AR's...you know the ones the scary police cant have...cause its too scary!!!!

[ABNAK]

Rhetorical Question: Any clue what happens when gear goes missing from the Armory on the .Mil side of things?

Duh! The officers can't go home at night if they're locked down in their barracks!

[PD Sgt.]

What this article conveniently leaves out is the fact that as of 1/1/2014, the government totally changed the way they track these weapons.
We used to have a paper with all the serial numbers of the .gov weapons listed signed by the Chief or Sheriff and then the armorer had to also sign that paper when the numbers were checked. It was a super stupid system that was easy to falsify.
Now, you have to take digital photos of the weapons and their serial numbers and send them to a .gov email.
I am sure that there are some missing weapons. When there are so many out there, it's going to happen. However, once the departments adhere to the new system, more of these weapons will be accounted for.
My department has 3 weapons from this program. I can't imagine what departments like Philly are doing when they have hundreds of them.

We just within the last few months went through the collection and photographing of all these weapons (and we do have hundreds issued). All accounted for as far as I know.

Even for larger departments with bigger budgets, it is the most cost effective means to equip officers with the additional capabilities a rifle affords. For those that cry foul regarding officers getting select fire weapons when the rest of the citizenry is prohibited from them, ours as well as every agency I have contact with converts them to semi auto only. The only units with select (burst) fire capability are tactical units, and their rifles/SBRs are agency purchased. They also have to be separately qualified on by the officers.

[Jer]

How many Humvees in a case?

Ha! That's how I read it the first time too & had to read it again.

[CoryCop25]

Truth be told, full auto is not very useful in LE/CQB work. I have taken I think 6 classes with my issued M16 and I have never used full auto.
I agree with the statement that it is the cost effectiveness not the full auto capability LE has these weapons.

[ST911]

There have been several threads on militarization and what cops may or may not need. Best hope for this one is to keep it about the specified events, losses, and accountability within the program.

Food for thought... Several m4c members have significant LESO/1033 involvement at various levels. Who knows what could be learned if the signal:noise is preserved.

[markm]

Truth be told, full auto is not very useful in LE/CQB work. I have taken I think 6 classes with my issued M16 and I have never used full auto.
I agree with the statement that it is the cost effectiveness not the full auto capability LE has these weapons.

I saw a 1033 16 here that had the auto sear removed. A cop's son was running it in a class.

[Eurodriver]

I'm just glad that I finally agree with Obama on something.

1033 should've been instituted in the first place. We never would've had billions of dollars in excess equipment if we never got involved in these stupid wars to begin with.

It's like a revolving door for the military to just keep on spending money. Build thousands of MRAPs and Humvees, give to PD, build more vehicles, give to PD, build more...