With recent crime waves, an aging jail and shifting state legislation, law enforcement agencies in Whatcom County say they’re struggling to meet community needs.
In response, departments are getting creative with their available funds, turning to federal programs like the 1033 program to provide everything from office furniture and kitchen equipment to rifles.
The federal 1033 program allows local police and law enforcement agencies to access military surplus — military-specific equipment, vehicles, office furniture, computers and more — at little to no cost to the department.
The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office has a mine-resistant vehicle employed for rescues during flood season. (Photo courtesy of the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office) Several Whatcom County law enforcement agencies — including the county sheriff’s office and police departments in Ferndale, Lynden, Sumas and Everson — have taken advantage of the program, bringing in everything from rifles and landmine-resistant vehicles (MRAP) to ponchos and a griddle.
Though the program has been heralded as a success by local law enforcement agencies, some critics from across the country remain skeptical of bringing “military surplus” like weapons and MRAPs to city streets.
“The material we get from [the program], everything thinks ‘ooh, military surplus,’ but there’s a lot of office equipment that comes down,” explained Riley Sweeney, the City of Ferndale’s communications officer. “A lot of what we get is things that would not be out of place at REI or OfficeMax. It’s surplus military equipment, but the military has offices too.”
Acquisitions across the county run the gamut from office equipment to high-tech vehicles, including three MRAPs and an armored truck.
Currently, Ferndale has acquired, at no cost beyond some shipping or delivery fees, about $749,000 worth of military equipment from the program, including a $733,000 MRAP, a $6,416 thermal viewer and 27 reflex sights, valued at $371 apiece.
Between April 29, 2011 and December 31, 2022, Whatcom County law enforcement agencies, paying no purchase costs but some delivery fees, brought almost $2.5 million in military surplus into the county. The Sumas Police Department had one acquisition — a $49,897 utility truck — while Lynden had almost 140 individual acquisitions. (Jaya Flanary/Cascadia Daily News) Sweeney said the acquisitions have saved Ferndale taxpayers a significant amount of money, while supporting ongoing law enforcement efforts to fight recent crime waves.
“We can often get things at substantial cost savings for the city,” he said last week. “Most of the equipment is completely free of charge, and over the years … the program has saved over a million dollars for the Ferndale Police Department.”
The MRAPs, designed for desert use by military forces serving overseas, see heavy use in the county despite the virtually nonexistent threat of landmines.
As large, heavy vehicles, the MRAPs have been particularly useful for officers performing rescues during Whatcom County’s recent devastating floods.
“By far, the M-ATV [type of MRAP] has been the most useful item acquired,” said Deb Slater, Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office community programs coordinator. “It helped WCSO save countless people stranded in flood waters.”
Slater said the M-ATV is used for specialty and high-risk operations, and was used “extensively during the 2021 flooding for search and rescue efforts.”
“It is rarely utilized, but when it is, [it] is extremely effective,” she added.
Ferndale’s MRAP sees a little more use, though not for rescue purposes. Sweeney said the vehicle is popular during community events and gets shown off during the Old Settlers Parade and the city’s “Touch a Truck” events.
The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office has the costliest acquisitions through the 1033 program in the county, with more than $1.56 million worth of equipment and tools, including two MRAPs (one valued at $733,000 and the other valued at $575,000), an armored truck, an $18,990 night vision viewer, two $13,565 blood-cooling and storage refrigerators, 47 sights and more.
Much of the equipment available through the 1033 program, though, is often not useful due to its age.
“A lot of the things are approaching the end of their useful life,” Sweeney said. “We get a few more years of use out of them before they’re done.”
Slater said the blood-cooling and storage refrigerators, delivered in mid-2022, were in bad shape, and the county is making plans to return them.
“These are small, mobile refrigerator units that were acquired in case our resident deputies in remote areas were stranded,” she told CDN. “We had hoped these would be useful in transporting food or keeping food fresh in case of extended power outages. Unfortunately, they were not in very good condition and their size made them difficult to transport.”
The Lynden Police Department has the highest number of acquisitions at this time, with almost 140 different items acquired through the program at the end of 2022.
Currently, the department has about 40 ponchos, sights, rifles and quite a bit of first aid equipment and cold-weather gear, including shirts, jackets and parkas. Accompanying the department’s law enforcement tools and outdoor gear: a $1,860 griddle.
“That’s something that, in a pinch, we can cook a bunch of food if we have to,” said Lynden Police Chief Steven Taylor. “Is it something we use a lot? No.”
Taylor said the griddle could be particularly handy during events like the 2021 floods, when families were evacuated from Sumas and Everson to Lynden, and emergency responders needed to feed lots of people at once.
“You hear ‘military surplus equipment,’ and immediately people think that we’re getting tanks and hand grenades and rocket launchers, and it’s none of that stuff. It’s a lot of boring type equipment, not mines or aircraft carriers or things like that,” he added.
Police departments and law enforcement agencies across the state have participated in the program in recent years, with five departments in Whatcom County and four in Skagit County acquiring vehicles and tools.
In recent years, almost $2 million worth of equipment has flown into departments in Skagit County, including the Anacortes, Mount Vernon and Sedro-Woolley police departments, along with the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office. Acquisitions include two MRAPs (valued at $733,000 and $689,000) and several unmanned vehicles, as well as headsets. microphones, lights and computer hard drives.
Between Oct. 15, 2011 and Dec. 31, 2022, law enforcement agencies in Skagit County, at no purchase costs but some delivery fees, brought $1,965,100.96 worth of military surplus into the county. The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office had the fewest acquisitions, with one night vision viewer and one MRAP, and the Mount Vernon Police Department had the most, with 208 items, though most of their acquisitions were office supplies. (Jaya Flanary/Cascadia Daily News) While praised by law enforcement, the 1033 program remains controversial nationally, with some human rights advocates maintaining the program has introduced increasingly dangerous weapons into neighborhoods, particularly following the 2020 protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd.
In a 2020 letter addressed to the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, more than 90 advocacy groups called on Congress to end the program.
“In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis, millions have demonstrated globally against police brutality and system racism,” the letter says. “In response to the national outrage, armored vehicles, assault weapons, and military gear once again filled our streets and communities, turning them into war zones. Weapons of war have absolutely no place in our communities.”
Since the program’s inception, more than $7.4 billion in military surplus has flown into states across the country, and currently supports more than 8,000 law enforcement agencies, including more than 90 in Washington.
The 1033 program, active in the United States since the mid-1990s, has been adjusted and updated in the last three decades, and does not currently permit transfer of several items, including tactical military gear like Kevlar helmets and explosives.
A 2022 executive order, issued by the Biden administration, imposed “sensible restrictions on the transfer or purchase with federal funds of military equipment that belongs on a battlefield, not on our streets.”
Local police departments say the program has been “very helpful” for everyday items and equipment, as well as supporting their communities in Whatcom.
“We pride ourselves at the Ferndale Police Department about being community-oriented and approachable,” Sweeney said. “We’re going to continue that both in how we run the department and how we conduct ourselves.”
This story was updated Jan. 17 at 3:53 p.m. to include additional information about acquisitions from the Lynden Police Department.
