Among many of the items are over 40 bayonets with scabbards.
I have a hard time understanding why a civil police agency would need military bayonets.
Also, they received an A-rat field kitchen.
Now, arguably, it would come in handy during mass casualty situation, tornado disasters, etc...but...I submit there is not one person in this county of less than 21,000 persons that has the first clue as to how to operate an A-rat field kitchen.
They also picked up over 40 M1911 .45 pistols, nearly 100 5.56 rifles (I'm assuming in an M-16 configuration), 4 7.62 rifles (SAW...or maybe an M-14 configuration or .308 Savage) and well over one hundred night vision devices.
There was also a bunch of cold weather sleeping bags, cold weather jackets, 40 black sweatshirts in XXL, a few vehicles, to include a 48 passenger bus, lots and lots of portable chain link fencing materials and on and on.
Reading the list, which was 25 pages long, put me in mind of one of Matt Bracken's novels, wherein chain link fencing is used to corral the citizenry.
There were a few things that made sense...such as "human remains bags", I mean, why buy them commercially at some astronomical price when your goobermint is giving them away.
Dive equipment...a good idea, since this county has a very large reservoir of water that is very popular and regularly has someone drowning or otherwise having problems. But I would be very surprised if there is actually someone qualified on it that works for the agency.
But all in all, it makes me wonder just who is actually getting this stuff?
Over 500 Chemlites?
Yeah, I'm sure those are just sitting in the Sheriffs ready room, waiting for an "official" use deployment of them
More likely, they are in the pockets and bug out bags of every deputy, patrolman and their families, as well as the local flea markets.
Yes, I am convinced that it needs to be looked at very closely.
That stuff costs us taxpayers a hell of a lot of money and I don't feel good about a podunk civil police agency having access to some of what they have received.
Call me picky if you must, but I really don't think the next Mule Day parade crowds are going to have to be controlled with military style bayonets, nor is the local FOP chapter going to sponsor a Pancake day with the $190,000.00 A-rat field kitchen. And the next UFO day will not benefit from the ready availability of night vision devices.
My paranoia tells me that some rat-faced deputy is sitting across from my home, now, with a state-of-the-art night vision device, with a sniper configured 7.62 rifle next to him, all comfy in his all-weather sleeping bag and his Gortex outer wear.
More likely, his son, of Boy Scouting age, is using the equipment at the late summer Camp Out.
I don't have access to the stuff, why should they?
What have you done to verify exactly where the stuff is being stored?