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Pawhuska among 145 agencies dropped from military surplus program

In the last 20 years, the Defense Department has given police agencies around the country some $5 billion worth of equipment, ranging from gloves to Humvees.

Now, many of those agencies have been suspended from the program, dubbed "1033," because they can't account for some of the equipment.

Many of the missing items are M-16 military-style rifles, shotguns, pistols, even a couple of armored vehicles.

KRMG's Washington Bureau has identified 145 police agencies which have been suspended from the 1033 program, and the list includes the Pawhuska, Oklahoma police department.

We called Pawhuska PD, but were told no one could comment on the situation until next week.

The information obtained in Washington, D.C. doesn't indicate exactly why Pawhuska was suspended, but dates that suspension to January of this year.

To be fair, some 8,000 agencies have participated in the program, so the number suspended reflects a fairly small percentage.

However, the recent unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, and images of police in armored vehicles, camouflage, body armor, and carrying high-powered weapons, has prompted the Obama administration to take a closer look at 1033 and what some call the militarization of local police.

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