How do you like to see police outfitted in the streets?

The answer tends to quickly send Americans into one of two dug-in camps: one that thinks too much gear turns cops into bulked-up bullies, another that maintains it makes officers far less vulnerable and allows them to better protect and serve. (Consider the job of facing down armed right-wing militias, as police did in Charlottesville, Va., this month.) 

The issue may be too complicated to be just two-sided.

The 1033 Program, designed to let military surplus trickle down to state and local law enforcement, was launched during the Clinton administration. It drew heat after the lethal clashes in Ferguson, Mo., and was scaled down in 2015 by President Barack Obama. The limits that he placed on the program were rescinded this week by President Trump.

So what are its practical effects? If people in underserved communities see police as an occupying force, then perception can harden into reality and problems can worsen. Still, a new study by the Shorenstein Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government indicates that in cities where ex-military gear is deployed by police, there have, in fact, been reductions in some kinds of crime – robbery, assault, burglary, and car theft.

Notably, it’s not about weapons. “Nonlethal equipment, including office supplies and IT hardware, have the largest effect on all types of crime,” the report found. Vehicles help, too. But there it’s not all about armored-up war wagons. As police work to help Houston in Harvey’s wake, it’s high-axle trucks and flat-bottomed boats of military origin that are reportedly coming in handy.

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