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What has McLennan County Acquired through the Pentagon Surplus Program?

Jill Ament

A large national debate is circling around how local law enforcement has been able to acquire military grade equipment through the Pentagon’s 1033 program. Local law enforcement can acquire equipment ranging from armored vehicles to bayonets and even grenade launchers. KWBU’s Jill Ament reports on what the McLennan County Sheriff’s Department received through this program over the years. 


Over the last eight years McLennan County’s sheriff’s department has acquired more than $1.5 million worth of equipment through the Department of Defense’s 1033 program. The list includes a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, or MRAP, which was acquired in February. McLennan County Chief Deputy Matt Cawthon says the MRAP was necessary after a seeing a spike in violent crime in the area like murder-suicides, people holding themselves hostage or holding up inside of a home and shooting at police. 

"If we have a situation where gunfire is present and we have need to move closer to the house, the car, wherever this gunfire is coming from," Cawthon said. "We now have a vehicle that we trust to move closer to that threat."

Established in 1989, the Department of Defense program was originally intended to assist local law enforcement in battling the War on Drugs, and later, terrorism. However the equipment has come to be used by local law enforcement in a variety of other ways.

McLennan County also received a military helicopter through the program. Cawthon says it’s used on a regular basis for search and rescue missions.  

"I think the most recent time we used the helicopter was when a student from Midway High School was swept away in some flood waters," Cawthon said. "We were able to use our helicopter to assist with that search."  

According to NPR data, the department has also received fifty assault rifles, two laser borelight systems that can be used to guide thermal weapons and a handful of other gear like safety and rescue equipment and medical supplies through the program. Cawthon says he’s not aware of the laser-guided systems and they’re looking into returning some of the assault rifles.

Overall, Cawthon says the equipment they’ve received through the 1033 program has better prepared the department for certain scenarios.  

"We live in a different time," Cawthon said. "We live in a more violent society. We're working murder-suicides, that we didn't used to work thirty years ago." 

Jill Ament is a reporter at KWBU. She hails from right here in Central Texas, growing up down the road in Gatesville. She graduated from Texas State University’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication in May of 2012.