POLICE AGENCIES FIND SURPLUS COST-EFFICIENT

The last time a bayonet saw action in Greensboro was in 1781, when Maj.
Gen. Nathanael Greene faced off against Lord Cornwallis in the Battle of
Guilford Courthouse. When the battle lines closed, hundreds of soldiers
fought each other with the blades in close combat.

Two hundred and sixteen years after that battle, officers with the
Greensboro Police Department saw that a modern equivalent was available
from stocks of surplus military equipment. They put in a request for the
weapons to assist in the department's efforts "toward narcotics enforcement
and other related law enforcement purposes."

Their request was approved three weeks later: 45 bayonets.

Greensboro police Capt. Craig Hartley said the department asked for the
bayonets because they were free and narcotics agents needed something to
pry open doors and cut down marijuana plants during raids. Hartley said
they are not intended to be used against people.

Bayonets are just one of 1,826 kinds of military hardware obtained by state
police agencies through a federal program. Armored vehicles, weight-lifting
equipment, a portable classroom and a mine detector have gone out to
departments in the last 10 years. Many have stockpiled as much equipment as
possible, just in case.

"If they'd offer us a spaceship, we'd take it," said Detective Vic Maynard
of the Guilford County Sheriff's Department. "Better off get it and not
need it than to say 'Well, I wish we would have got that a year ago.'"

Police agencies have accepted equipment that cost the military more than
$84 million, according to state records. The agencies only pay for shipping.

Greensboro isn't the only department to ask for bayonets. More than 1,200
bayonets have been issued to police departments statewide, including 10 to
the Randolph County Sheriff's Department, nine to the Liberty Police
Department and five to High Point police.

The most common big-ticket items awarded to police are surplus trucks. The
Randolph County Sheriff's Office has received 18 military trucks since
1994. Maj. Fred Rutledge said the trucks were used when the department
moved its offices to a new building, saving the cost of hiring a private
firm. Rutledge said deputies also need four-wheel-drive vehicles during icy
weather.

The department also has two V-100 armored vehicles, which Rutledge said are
available to be used in a standoff with an armed suspect.

The department's most expensive item was a $194,000 portable radio tower
left over from the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Fort Gordon, Ga. Rutledge said
his department didn't really need a tower but accepted it when it was
offered. It sat in storage for four years, until Wilkes County took it off
the department's hands.

Wilkes County sheriff's Capt. Greg Minton said getting the tower was a
godsend for them because the department's radio system didn't cover about a
third of the mountainous county. The department plans to install the
114-foot aluminum tower permanently to eliminate radio dead spots.

Many smaller departments have also stocked up on military equipment. In
2000, the three-member police force of the Greensboro Alcoholic Beverage
Control Board accepted a surplus Humvee from Camp Lejeune. Executive
Director Katie Alley said officers thought the Humvee would make a good
undercover vehicle for drug arrests and distillery raids.

But when the truck was delivered in 2000, officers realized that they
couldn't afford to repair the truck and make it drivable. They held onto it
for two years and sold it to a private buyer for $12,000.

Alley said much of the equipment the ABC police get is in poor condition
and is sold off. In the case of the Humvee, the money generated from the
sale went toward buying a police cruiser.

But state officials say that program rules prohibit the sale of
demilitarized equipment, like a Humvee, to the private sector. Neil
Woodcock, who heads the state agency that approves military transfers, said
his office wouldn't have allowed the Greensboro ABC to sell the Humvee if
it knew of the sale.

Woodcock said his office tries to encourage police agencies not to sell off
equipment to make money. Though agencies are allowed to sell nonsensitive
equipment after using it for a year, those that try to make money off the
program shouldn't expect to get any more from the program, he said.

Equipment has also gone to two privately run company police forces even
though federal law says the equipment is only supposed to go to
government-run law enforcement agencies.

Greensboro's Koury Corp., which has a private police agency to provide
security in the Four Seasons Town Centre mall, was given body armor and
binoculars. The security force at Methodist College in Fayetteville got
$27,000 in surplus equipment, including a pickup and a car.

Woodcock said when the program began, there was a flood of requests and few
rules. The agency's current rules prohibit private police forces from
taking part in the program.