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Curtis Gilbert
Minneapolis

Minneapolis police to return unused military equipment

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The Minneapolis Police Department plans to return nearly $180,000 worth of equipment it obtained from the U.S. military over the last seven years.

Assistant Police Chief Matt Clark said much of the gear is outdated, and hasn't proved useful to the department.

"We're talking about rifles, some scopes that we did get recently, and then some helmets, some sleeping bags [and] a projector," Clark said. "I think a tube TV is in there as well. And a lot of that equipment was just sitting on a shelf. We don't really use it. We don't deploy with it, and we're just going to return that equipment."

The list of equipment includes 173 rifles, and 160 reflex sights and 49 straight telescopes.

Clark said police officials have planned to return the equipment since last year, when the department budgeted money to begin replacing its arsenal of assault rifles. He said the plan had nothing to do with the national debate over the militarization of police departments sparked by last month's riots in Ferguson, Missouri.

Minneapolis City Council members Blong Yang and Andrew Johnson are hosting a forum tonight at the Minneapolis Urban League about the lessons learned from Ferguson.

According to data from the state Department of Public Safety, over the last two decades 42 law enforcement agencies around the state have received free equipment from the military worth nearly $10 million.