It also would remove a requirement that police agencies use the equipment they get within a year, which Labrador said has been giving local police an incentive to use the military gear in inappropriate circumstances. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., and a bipartisan group of four other co-sponsors, would exclude certain equipment including high-caliber weapons, long-range acoustic devices, grenade launchers, weaponized drones, armored vehicles and explosives from the program. Labrador’s bill, which he introduced with U.S. The program has come under scrutiny since local police in Ferguson, Missouri, used tanklike vehicles and military-style weapons for crowd control during demonstrations following the police shooting of a young unarmed man. That’s included everything from Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected Vehicles, or MRAPs, to grenade launchers and high-caliber assault rifles. The new bill, dubbed the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014, targets the Pentagon’s surplus property program that’s provided $4.2 billion in surplus military equipment to local and state law enforcement agencies without charge. But he’s concluded that some equipment now being transferred isn’t. “The congressman has always supported transfers of equipment appropriate for local law enforcement,” Popkey said. The 2011 bill, dubbed the SEND (Send Equipment for National Defense) Act, didn’t pass. “The 2011 bill was specifically for border security,” Popkey said. Labrador’s spokesman, Dan Popkey, said that program was “apples and oranges” and nothing like the one the congressman is targeting now. Such equipment might include drones, Humvees and night-vision goggles. In 2011, Labrador co-sponsored legislation to require 10 percent of military equipment being returned from Iraq that’s suitable for law enforcement work to be sent to federal and state agencies with a preference for using it for southern border security. Our bill would restore the focus of local law enforcement on protecting citizens and providing due process for the accused.” “The Pentagon’s current surplus property program blurs that line by introducing a military model of overwhelming force in our cities and towns. “Our nation was founded on the principle of a clear line between the military and civilian policing,” said Labrador, a Republican, who introduced legislation Tuesday that would prohibit sending military surplus to the nation’s civilian police forces. Raul Labrador wants to restrict surplus military equipment from going to state and local law enforcement agencies, saying local police shouldn’t be militarized.