WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Defense Department is giving away free equipment the military no longer needs to state and local police, including a doublewide trailer in Virginia, according to the Associated Press.

Authorities in Bucks County, Pa., just outside Philadelphia, turned to the Pentagon for two hand-me-down armored vehicles to protect officers in hostage standoffs. The total savings to local taxpayers is more than $70,000 a piece. The 1960s-era armored vehicles given to Bucks County only needed paint and fresh batteries. The final cost was less than the $80,000 each would cost new.

Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, the military gave away a tractor, dump trucks, and back hoes.

In Covina, Calif., police converted a military ambulance into a SWAT team vehicle.

The program is administered by the Defense Logistic Agency. Police pay only to ship the equipment and for necessary upgrades. The military gives away only items it considers obsolete for its own use, parts that already have been replaced or are no longer needed in places such as Iraq.

The Defense Department’s giveaway program started in 1990 to transfer surplus military parts to police for anti-drug and anti-terrorism work. Its mission was later broadened.
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