Background on the Military Surplus Program

That...the Military Surplus Program lists $2.85 Million of equipment as having gone to the Dewey Beach Police Department (DBPD) in the past three years. That $2.85 is the acquisition value established and listed by the federal government, not DCA or any other group.
That...The Walton Report when published in September 2017 first brought this program to the attention of residents and some Council members who were not aware of the program since none of it was visible in town for any extended period.
That...Some or all of the equipment is depreciated, some may have been sold, neither residents nor Town Council know why, how much, or where all the proceeds went, and have not received any accounting from the DBPD other than three transactions which do not include full documentation.
That...Dewey Beach is the largest user of the program of any town or city in Delaware based on those same federal sources. There is also no factual dispute that the town which provides Dewey its emergency services, Rehoboth Beach, does not participate at all in the 1033 program, and nearby towns such as Fenwick island and Laurel applied for and received less than 10% of what Dewey has obtained, in Military Surplus equipment.
That... the Dewey Police have not yet accounted for the actual use of the equipment, despite a November 11, 2017 Council Resolution to provide info on all equipment received and its current status and location.
That… the DBPD received 36 vehicles from the Military, and just recently the DBPD moved eight or more of them to a field in Lewes, within the past two months since scrutiny began.
That… According to the Walton Report, and the current Auditor TGM, the police have operated a “off budget” account without oversight (which they call a “slush fund” or “reserve account” used for sales of the property, and which was entirely outside of the town’s accounting system.
That… TGM, the company which audited Dewey Beach last year, did not identify or list the DBPD “slush fund.” That indicates the program was not known widely, if it was not even known to the auditor. And the account has never been audited. Further the Budget committee has found that there are four DBPD “restricted accounts.”
That… On January 13, 2018 Commissioner Paul Bauer made a presentation to town Council defending the Police Participation in the program, and that no alternative presentation or questions were allowed.
That… DCA issued a Report citing facts from the 1033 programs own website, which contradicted Mr. Bauer’s presentation, and on its cover letter DCA invited Mr. Bauer to provide any questions with the facts that we had that were in contrast to his, and he has provided no support for his earlier presentation but it remains as is on the town website.