An armored personnel carrier. A 270-pound ballistic shield. A sonic weapon. A military-grade helicopter. An analysis of their equipment list illustrates the department’s militarization over the past 10 years.
American police departments both large and small have undergone a militarization in recent years. The St. Louis County Police Department — which drew widespread criticism for its muscular response to protests this summer in Ferguson, Mo. — is no exception.
The department has an arsenal. It has acquired an armored personnel carrier, a 270-pound metal shield, three helicopters, two projectile launchers, and hundreds of smaller armaments during the past 10 years, according to public records obtained by BuzzFeed News. The department has amassed its cache through direct purchases, as well as state, regional, and federal grant programs.
That arsenal was deployed against protesters night after night in the weeks following the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown on August 9th. Brown, who was black, was shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who is white; findings of a grand jury probe into the shooting are expected any day.
The scenes of clashes between protesters and police that streamed out of Ferguson following the shooting became a flashpoint for a larger discussion of police militarization in America.
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Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images — Armed officers from the St. Louis County Police stand alongside their truck as they monitor demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri, U.S., on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2014.
Politicians such as Kentucky congressman Rand Paul and Missouri senator Claire McCaskill have questioned whether such military-style equipment is actually needed for police to effectively do their jobs.
Others say that, when used by well-trained officers, such weaponry can promote public safety. "In the hands of carefully selected, disciplined, highly trained officers, sophisticated weapons and tactics can peacefully end situations that might otherwise end in bloodshed," John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor Eugene O'Donnell, wrote in The New York Times.
BuzzFeed News received the St. Louis County Police Department's "Capital Asset List" as of August 2014 through a Missouri Sunshine Law request. The full equipment list can be found here. The list is only a partial accounting of everything that rolled through the streets of Ferguson during the high-profile demonstrations because other departments, including the Ferguson Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol, deployed there as well.
Officials with the St. Louis County Police Department did not respond to detailed questions about these items.
Some of the items the department has acquired include:
Two PGL-65 40 Millimeter Multi-Shot Launchers
![Two PGL-65 40 Millimeter Multi-Shot Launchers]()
David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Polaris — Police fire tear gas in the direction of where bottles were thrown from crowds gathered near the QuikTrip on W. Florissant Avenue on Monday, Aug. 18, 2014.
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