Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Defense's 1033 program has supplied campus police from at least 117 colleges and universities with military surplus equipment, including modified grenade launchers, M-16 assault rifles, 12-gauge shotguns, knives, and even mine-resistant vehicles and armored trucks.
- The program has allowed 8,000 police departments, those on campuses included, to acquire the military equipment for free since 1998 — they only have to pay for shipping, the Chronicle of Higher Education reports.
- The M-16s seem particularly popular with the campus police departments, with 60 or more higher ed institutions acquiring them. Arizona State University has 70 of the assault rifles, with Florida International University and the University of Maryland acquiring 50 each.
Dive Insight:
The Chronicle story raises some interesting issues, including the question of how much firepower a college police force really needs. Congress is taking a look at whether the 1033 program needs to be revised. The article is based on Freedom of Information requests to states, and it includes a handy graphic that lists which colleges have received the military equipment, and what they received. States that have yet to respond to the FOI requests are Alabama, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia, in addition to the District of Columbia.