What We Want
To demilitarize law enforcement at every level of government: cities, counties, school districts, and the state.
Local police departments do not need military weaponry equipment to operate in civilian environments. All agencies should stop participation in the 1033 program (explained below) and return military equipment to the federal government.
Check Your Police Department:
The data lists agencies in alphabetical order and includes city and county police departments, school district and university police, as well as state agencies.
Data as of March 31, 2020
We should restrict law enforcement agencies from:
- Using federal grant money to purchase military equipment (Ex: Montana law),
- Deploying armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft, drones, Stingray surveillance equipment, chemical weapons including tear gas, camouflage uniforms, and grenade launchers,
- Using SWAT teams unless there is an emergency situation or imminent threat to life and high-ranking officers have given approval,
- In addition to these restrictions, wherever possible, agencies should seek to return to the federal government the military equipment that has already been received.
View additional policy recommendations to end police violence in Georgia.
Police Militarization in Georgia Communities
The militarization of state and municipal police forces contributes to the excessive use of force and degrades community trust.
The US Department of Defense’s 1033 program allows the Secretary of Defense to transfer military equipment to police departments at no cost to the local police department. It began in 1997 and is administered through the Law Enforcement Support Organization (LESO). This is how small town departments end up with military vehicles and weaponry, as well as non-weapon military equipment.
Below we have published a pivot table we created with Georgia data from the LESO detailing all the property transfers from the Department of Defense to Georgia law enforcement agencies since the start of the program in 1997.