Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway is defending a federal program that supplies surplus military equipment to local police and sheriff’s departments.
Congressman Hank Johnson, who represents parts of Gwinnett, DeKalb, Rockdale, and Newton Counties, plans to file legislation next week when Congress returns called the “Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act” that would limit the federal 1033 program.
He drafted the legislation just days after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo.
The bill would affect some automatic weapons, armored vehicles, armored drones, silencers and flash-bang grenades. They would no longer be free under the federal program and departments who purchase them would have to demonstrate they have the personnel and technical capacity to operate the equipment.
But Conway says the current program saves taxpayer money and protects local law enforcement.
“It equips departments that otherwise couldn’t purchase a piece of equipment that they get through the federal government,” he tells WSB’s Sandra Parrish.
The Gwinnett Sheriff’s Office received a LAV150 armored personnel carrier five years ago which it uses several times a month on SWAT calls. It has no offensive weapons attached but serves as a bulletproof shield for his deputies.
“It’s also a pretty big piece of equipment that once it’s in somebody’s front yard, they understand that we’re serious and we’re not going away,” says Conway. “Usually that’s enough to make somebody give up their weapons and come outside peacefully.”
Besides the LAV, the sheriff’s office has received sleeping bags, safety glasses, helmets, clothing as well as ceremonial in-operative rifles for its honor guard unit.
“I think there’s a misconception that police departments and sheriff’s offices are out patrolling in these armored personnel carriers and there’s nothing further from the truth,” says Conway. “They’re pulled out when there’s somebody armed and a threat to a human being.”
The sheriff says he now has Johnson’s cell phone number and will be happy to invite him to the next SWAT standoff without using the LAV. He jokingly says Johnson can go to the front door to see if the suspect will surrender peacefully.
