Excerpt from the Carolina Public Press article:
After the militarized police response to August’s upheaval in Ferguson, Mo., reporters across the nation sought information about the Pentagon’s sharing of surplus equipment with domestic law agencies. Unlike most states, North Carolina refused to release specifics about its participation in the program, with Department of Public Safety officials saying that to do so could aid criminals.
Regardless, some of N.C.’s law agencies previously released information about the military gear they received, and now the Defense Department has published the full inventory online, revealing that at least 44 agencies in Western North Carolina have partaken in the bonanza of tactical gear, weapons, and armored vehicles, along with more mundane items such as office and exercise equipment.
In North Carolina’s 18 westernmost counties, these were the top 10 recipients under the program, in terms of the total value of the items they received:
- Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office ($1,203,749)
- Andrews Police Department ($171,041)
- Haywood County Sheriff’s Office ($168,114)
- Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office ($139,672)
- Murphy Police Department ($90,103)
- Asheville Police Department ($65,070)
- McDowell County Sheriff’s Office ($49,472)
- Watauga County Sheriff’s Office ($47,782)
- Boone Police Department ($45,726)
- Mars Hill Police Department ($43,924)
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