Federal Government Buys Riot Gear, Increases Security Funding, Citing
Coronavirus Pandemic
By Lee Fang, The Intercept18 May 20
The federal government has ramped up security and police-related spending in
response to the coronavirus pandemic, including issuing contracts for riot
gear, disclosures show.
The purchase orders include requests for disposable cuffs, gas masks,
ballistic helmets, and riot gloves, along with law enforcement protective
equipment for federal police assigned to protect Veterans Affairs
facilities. The orders were expedited under a special authorization "in
response to Covid-19 outbreak."
The Veterans Affairs department, which manages nearly 1,500 health care care
facilities around the country, has also extended special contracts for
coronavirus-related security services.
Redcon Solutions Group, a private security company founded by Iraq War
veterans, has won over $1.6 million in contracts to provide guards for
"Covid-19 screening security guard services." Similar contracts have gone
out to private security firms to guard VA facilities in San Francisco, Des
Moines, and Fayetteville, among others.
The increased security contracts appeared shortly after a recent Inspector
General report noted an increase in absenteeism among VA employees and
shortages among VA police. The IG report noted that there is "additional
strain caused by the need for additional police presence for
COVID-19-related screenings" of veterans at all VA health facilities and
recommended the hiring of contract security services.
The VA police, as The Intercept previously reported, was not armed until
2011, when the Pentagon began providing military equipment to police forces
around the country.
"Between 2005 and 2014, VA police departments acquired millions of dollars'
worth of body armor, chemical agents, night vision equipment, and other
weapons and tactical gear," The Intercept reported last year. But an
Inspector General report in December 2018 found there was little oversight.
"The OIG found that forces at roughly three out of every four facilities
were not receiving timely inspections. Further, the sparse data collected on
police activities was not tracked or assessed in any systematic or rigorous
way."
The CARES Act, the $2.2 trillion stimulus legislation passed in late March,
also authorized $850 million for the Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental
Funding program, a federal grant program to prepare law enforcement,
correctional officers, and police for the crisis. The funds have been
dispensed to local governments to pay for overtime costs, purchase
protective supplies, and defray expenses related to emergency policing.
The CESF funding may be used for a range of coronavirus response efforts by
law enforcement, including medical personal protective equipment, overtime
for police officers, training, and supplies for detention centers. The
grants may also be used for the purchase of unmanned aerial aircraft and
video security cameras for law enforcement. Motorola Solutions, a major
supplier of police technology, has encouraged local governments to use the
new money to buy a range of command center software and video analytics
systems.
While the pandemic has coincided with a historic drop in violent crime
across the country, analysts have expressed concern that the rapid spread of
the virus will fuel confrontations.
There have been multiple inmate riots in response to Covid-19 outbreaks in
prisons and jails, which have become dangerous hotspots for the disease. The
economic upheaval and disagreements over coronavirus-related policy have
also fueled demonstrations across the country.
The federal funding requests contrast sharply with the rosy rhetoric from
President Donald Trump, who has lavished himself with praise for his
response to the crisis and issued optimistic predictions that recovery is
around the corner. Last month, the federal government secured a contract to
purchase 100,000 body bags to dispose of deaths related to the Covid-19
outbreak.