RCSO: Use Of Combat-Style Equipment Meant To Protect, Not Intimidate

Some people believe the use of military equipment helped keep the number of injured police and SWAT team members low during Wednesday’s mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.

But local law enforcement can no longer get that type of equipment from the government.

A federal grant program allows local agencies, like Rogers County, to buy military surplus equipment from the federal government for practically nothing, but the president now says equipment made for the battlefield should not be a tool of American criminal justice, and has put a ban on some combat-style gear, like armored vehicles.

The California massacre ended in a shootout with police, who killed the two suspects in a gunfight.

“Yesterday is a prime of example what that equipment is designed and used for,” said Chief Deputy Bob Darby with the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office.

Armored vehicles helped take down the suspects while protecting law enforcement - the same military-style equipment President Obama has restricted.

“There are definite needs to have that equipment staged throughout Oklahoma and throughout the United States,” Darby said. “As you can tell, you never know when you're gonna need it.”

The Rogers County Sheriff’s Office doesn't have armored vehicles in its arsenal, but it does have two Humvees that can be used in disaster situations – floods, ice storms, or the aftermath of a tornado.

“Military designed them to go just about anywhere or go through anything,” Darby said.

He said the $250,000 Humvee only cost the county $500 since it was bought through a federal grant program.

The president put an end to the federal transfers of some combat-style gear to local law enforcement in May, saying the presence of some military equipment can alienate and intimidate local residents and send the wrong message.

Darby said, “Our goal is to de-escalate a situation, not to escalate it.”

For now, Darby said Rogers County will stick with what it’s got, but said had the officers in California not had the equipment they did, this might be a different type of story.

“We'd probably be talking about numerous officers being killed, injured or just about anything else,” he said.

The president has put tighter control on other surplus items, like Humvees, saying agencies must get approval from their local government in order to use the equipment.