"We don’t buy just to buy because the price is right."

Since 1997, the Defense Department has supplied surplus military-grade equipment for free or cheap to the Tampa Police Department, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and some 8,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide, according to records obtained from the federal Defense Logistics Agency.

The price tag so far on the federal 1033 Program is some $7.4 billion, more than $200 million of it for agencies in Florida. The Tampa Bay area has received about $23.5 million in military gear, including helicopters, military-grade surveillance equipment, semi-automatic rifles, mine-resistant trucks and armored vehicles, and robots designed to both defuse and detonate bombs.

Most is used in rescue operations or reserved for some “worst-case” scenario, agencies say. But some of it has drawn attention during the recent protests.

Read more at the Tampa Bay Times