1033 Program Data for Studying Policing and Militarization: An Open-source Database in Response to the Recommendations of Koslicki

Abstract

The 1033 Program involves the transfer of military equipment to law enforcement agencies across the United States. The Program allows law enforcement unparalleled access to a variety of military equipment for discretionary use. Owing to issues of data, not much is known about the impact of 1033 on relevant law enforcement strategies and outcomes; including how much equipment an agency has, how the equipment is used, and the impacts of the equipment. With an increasingly controversial socio-political landscape involving police and communities, the potential connection between 1033 equipment, police militarization and use of force, and other topics of interest is pertinent. To resolve such questions, scholars and practitioners must appropriately obtain, structure, and categorize relevant 1033 data. The current article responds to Koslicki (2023) and other field inquiries to publish an open-source 1033 database that is derived from the appropriate sources, is correctly structured, and categorizable for analyses.