Oklahoma Gets Four Helicopters Under Program

Friday, January 26th 2007, 5:44 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Oklahoma law enforcement agencies recently received four Kiowa helicopters under a Defense Department program that doles out surplus or unneeded equipment to the states.

Since September, two helicopters have gone to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, one to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and one to the Bryan County Sheriff's Department.

The state Department of Central Services, which administers the program under Defense Department guidelines, last year disbursed hundreds of items to local police departments and other law enforcement agencies.

Those items ranged from night vision equipment to body armor to scuba diving gear.

Other surplus items that have been disbursed in the past, according to DCS spokeswoman Gerry Smedley, include forklifts, computers and generators.

Some of the items carried a nominal cost set by the DCS or the Defense Department, mostly to cover the cost of administering the program, Smedley said.

The cost of the used Kiowa helicopters was only $5,000. They were valued by the U.S. defense agency at about $191,000 and by the OHP at $350,000, Smedley said.

An analysis by The Associated Press, based on data supplied by the Pentagon, showed that across the country about 16,000 law enforcement agencies obtained more than 380,000 pieces of equipment in latest year data was available.

The value of the items sent to the states was nearly $124 million.

Oklahoma was not listed as receiving items during the 2005 federal budget year. That's because the state's participation was canceled by the previous administration, Smedley said.

It was revived after John Richard, a retired Army colonel, was appointed director of the DCS by Gov. Brad Henry.

"We're back going strong," Smedley said.

Before the state left the program in 2002, she said agencies got a lot of weapons. For instance, she said the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation got 180 guns.

She said a federal freeze has been placed on issuing weapons until the completion of a state-by-state audit of guns previously received.

Smedley said weapons are handled under strict guidelines and are carefully tracked. Agencies must return weapons they do not use.

She said a few years ago, the Wamsley-Creek Rural Fire Corporation, a firefighting agency in rural Osage County near Foraker, received a missile launcher under another government surplus program. She said the missile launcher was retrofitted for use in fighting fires.