aGameOfThrones
10-07-2014, 09:58 AM
BATON ROUGE, La. — Doug Wortham used a Defense Department giveaway program for law enforcement to stock his office with an assault rifle, a handgun and a Humvee — even though the people in his custody are in no condition to put up a fight.
They’re dead.
Wortham is the Sharp County, Ark., coroner. He says the Humvee helps him navigate the rugged terrain of the Ozarks foothills, but he struggled to explain why he needs the surplus military weapons he acquired more than two years ago.
“I just wanted to protect myself,” he said.
His office isn’t the only government agency with limited policing powers and a questionable need for high-powered weaponry to take advantage of the program. While most of the surplus weapons go to municipal police departments and county sheriffs, an Associated Press review shows that a diverse array of other state and local agencies also have been scooping up guns and other tactical equipment no longer needed by the military.
Military-grade weapons have gone to government agencies that enforce gaming laws at Kansas tribal casinos and weigh 18-wheelers in Mississippi, to the Wyoming Livestock Board and the Cumberland County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in Fayetteville, N.C. Other military surplus items have been bestowed on an animal control department in Cullman County, Ala.; a harbormaster in Dartmouth, Mass.; and the California Assembly’s sergeant-at-arms.
Wortham was qualified to enroll in the 1033 Program because Arkansas coroners have arrest powers. Elected to his first term as coroner in 2010, he obtained a .45-caliber pistol and an M-16 rifle in 2012 after getting a Humvee the previous year. He said he is trying to arrange for a local police department to take the two weapons.
State program officials said they couldn’t find Wortham’s written justification for requesting the weapons. An official from the federal office that oversees the program approved both transactions.
“What does a coroner need a big gun for?” asked Marshall County, Ill., coroner Davey Lenz, who used the program to obtain body bags. “I have never carried a weapon in my 20 years on the job.”
Wortham, who is running for re-election, denies any wrongdoing.
“This has been a political thing from the word go,” he said.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Even-a-coroner-can-get-surplus-weapons-from-5805059.php
They’re dead.
Wortham is the Sharp County, Ark., coroner. He says the Humvee helps him navigate the rugged terrain of the Ozarks foothills, but he struggled to explain why he needs the surplus military weapons he acquired more than two years ago.
“I just wanted to protect myself,” he said.
His office isn’t the only government agency with limited policing powers and a questionable need for high-powered weaponry to take advantage of the program. While most of the surplus weapons go to municipal police departments and county sheriffs, an Associated Press review shows that a diverse array of other state and local agencies also have been scooping up guns and other tactical equipment no longer needed by the military.
Military-grade weapons have gone to government agencies that enforce gaming laws at Kansas tribal casinos and weigh 18-wheelers in Mississippi, to the Wyoming Livestock Board and the Cumberland County Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in Fayetteville, N.C. Other military surplus items have been bestowed on an animal control department in Cullman County, Ala.; a harbormaster in Dartmouth, Mass.; and the California Assembly’s sergeant-at-arms.
Wortham was qualified to enroll in the 1033 Program because Arkansas coroners have arrest powers. Elected to his first term as coroner in 2010, he obtained a .45-caliber pistol and an M-16 rifle in 2012 after getting a Humvee the previous year. He said he is trying to arrange for a local police department to take the two weapons.
State program officials said they couldn’t find Wortham’s written justification for requesting the weapons. An official from the federal office that oversees the program approved both transactions.
“What does a coroner need a big gun for?” asked Marshall County, Ill., coroner Davey Lenz, who used the program to obtain body bags. “I have never carried a weapon in my 20 years on the job.”
Wortham, who is running for re-election, denies any wrongdoing.
“This has been a political thing from the word go,” he said.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Even-a-coroner-can-get-surplus-weapons-from-5805059.php