As one veteran MTCop in Texas put it (anonymously, fearing retaliation): “I spent 12 years as an Army MP. Now I spend my days telling cops they can’t use the toys they begged for. The toys aren’t bad. But forgetting they’re military toys — that’s how democracies break.”
By 2014, the public saw images of police in camouflage handling armored vehicles in Ferguson, Missouri. The backlash was immediate and bipartisan. In response, the Obama administration issued Executive Order 13688 (later partially rescinded) restricting transfers of certain “controlled equipment” — tanks, bayonets, grenade launchers, and tracked combat vehicles. mtcops
Their existence stems from a blunt reality: the same thermal imaging systems that guide a Hellfire missile in Afghanistan can end up on a patrol car in Ohio. The same drones that scout enemy positions can hover over a protest in Oregon. Without dedicated oversight, the line between national defense and domestic policing vanishes. The modern MTCops framework traces directly to the 1033 Program (U.S. Department of Defense’s Excess Property Program), initiated in the 1990s but massively expanded after the 9/11 attacks and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Between 2006 and 2020, the Pentagon transferred over $7.4 billion in military-grade equipment to local police departments — including mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs), night-vision goggles, assault rifles, and unmanned aerial systems. As one veteran MTCop in Texas put it