1)Where we are Now: The current reality in Dewey Beach on the 1033 Military Surplus Program and accounting for its equipment and money flows

There is no factual dispute...

• 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.
• The above Background leads us to the recent activities:

2) Media Coverage of Dewey’s Military Surplus Program Excess Issues

Cape Gazette: Based on some of the objective facts above, the local and regional news media has begun to pick up on the significant problems in the report presented to Town Council by Commissioner Bauer, who in a presentation January 13, defended all aspects of Dewey’s participation in the Military Surplus program (1033 program). In coverage of DCA’s fact based, footnoted rebuttal, the Cape Gazette’s article, Dewey, citizens question town council presentation did a good job allowing the facts to be presented, and included relevant quotes from DCA and our report.

Despite our 46 facts being footnoted and referenced specifically rebutting his presentation before Council, Commissioner Bauer states that “he stands behind” all of his presentation. DCA volunteer researchers brought footnoted facts to this issue, and we expect that it will matter with the residents of Dewey Beach, that an objective analysis proves that most of the claims by Mr. Bauer were factually inaccurate and some were seriously so.

We invite residents to comment on the articles using the comment sections following each news media story here, and to approve those comments they agree with that would bring accountability to Dewey.

WBOC: A new story on Dewey Participation in the Military Surplus Program also gave airtime to facts in the Bauer Rebuttal, and led off the broadcast on WBOC last week as well. At least now questions are being asked, and we are getting some airtime for us to present actual facts. For example, the story states such things as the Police are “allowed to obtain the equipment to sell it,” (that is incorrect based on the program’s documents) and that we can “see the equipment anytime we want” also turns out not to be true.  See the following item on our information requests. To counter the Police claims made to reporters (who understandably are busy and don't have time to research the facts deep in the government documents), we have created a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to address these and other common misconceptions about the actual program rules.

Dover Post: A reporter from The Dover Post who has been working on the Dewey Military Surplus story for quite a while ran another story last week Dewey Beach: Police buying, selling raises eyebrows, questions, which was well written, though short. Fortunately it did not feature police claims going unquestioned by the reporter, in large part because the reporter is knowledgeable about the subject, and is expected to do some follow up reporting. A subpart of the Dover Post Story detailed some of the serious Military equipment that Dewey has received.

Please join the debate in commenting on the articles when you read them, in the section provided on their respective websites. It will urge the Town Council to move towards accountability to receive the information the residents have a right to know about.

3) Progress on the “Outside Review” of the Town’s Participation in the 1033 Program

The outside review by TGM of the town’s “procedures” related to the Military Surplus program is supposedly near done. But, the “Agreed Upon Procedures Review (AUPR)” is not an audit. As this review by the firm TGM has continued, DCA just received last week the engagement letter between TGM and Dewey with the scope of the work, and it indicates it will far fall short of what is needed to figure out what is going on with the money in the “reserve accounts” (aka the slush fund).  Combined with the prior documented interference by Commissioner Bauer, who prior to the contract called the Audit Committee Chair purporting to act on behalf of the town to relay concerns about a lawsuit if an audit focused on the Police Department. The email back from the Audit Committee Chair stated it would be modifying the scope of the contract “now be more in the form of an internal review.”

Based on the items below and the terms of the engagement letter, DCA last week expressed its concerns in a letter to the Council and the Media that this review will clearly fall short of providing the residents of Dewey an accountable report on where monies did or did not go.

4) Dewey Response to FOIAs for Insurance Policy Indicates Stonewalling

Dewey Beach’s Administration has been non-compliant with a major newspaper’s information request at the end of December, and is now stonewalling DCAs recent Freedom of Information Act Requests (FOIA) seeking documents on the 1033 program:

1. On January 9, 2018 DCA filed a FOIA formally requesting the Town of Dewey Beach insurance policy from December 2017, including the pages which contain the the insured property, vehicles and locations, which are items C and D.
2. We received the FOIA response within the required 15 days that contained a partial February 2017 policy, it had missing pages, and was outdated, as it did not include the December 2017 endorsements for new vehicles and locations we know were added in December 2017 (based on separate information we received) nor did it have items C and D.
3. We replied to the Mayor on February 2, 2018 detailing the insufficiency of the response to the FOIA request and requested (again) the December policy, and requested again the pages and items C and D.
4. We then received a revised FOIA reply on February 6, 2018 containing a February 2018 policy adding vehicles after the date of our FOIA request (indicating they had added vehicles possibly due to our asking why they were not insured as required by the 1033 program). It did not include the requested December endorsement and changes C and D, and The Policy does not even take effect until February 18, 2018!
5. We now have to resubmit the FOIA request of January, again requesting C and D, and some within Town hall denying residents the information we are allowed under the FOIA Statue, we will be pursuing this matter and report back.

It is important to note that Dewey has not claimed this information to be confidential and exempt from FOIA (it’s not anyway). Dewey just has failed to provide the required documents.  Our FOIA request is simple, clear and repeated. There does not appear to be transparency in Town hall or with the Mayor or even a willingness to comply with the FOIA statute. The Town of Dewey has its own FOIA page, so it understands the Law. We are copying the fifth to and from Dewey exchange to the FOIA Officer in the Delaware Attorney General’s office who investigates FOIA Violations. This should move things forward, but from now on when the town claims transparency, we will take issue with that claim on this simple matter.

FOIA Insurance Links

http://www.deweycitizens.org/images/documents/TDBInsurancePt1.pdf

http://www.deweycitizens.org/images/documents/TDBInsurancePt2.pdf

5) Key information on the 1033 Program to Watch available here:

With Dewey the largest user of the program in the state, and one of the largest in the country per capita, and with no other side presented to Town Council, all residents might find it helpful to review a new PBS documentary “Do Not Resist: A vital and influential exploration of the rapid militarization of the police in the United States.”
It is described as follows Do Not Resist puts viewers in the center of the action — from inside a police training seminar that teaches the importance of "righteous violence" to the floor of a congressional hearing on the proliferation of military equipment in small-town police departments. Winner, Best Documentary Feature Award, 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.

Link: PBS POV Do Not Resist

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About DCA

The Dewey Citizens for Accountability, was founded and first issued a group letter to Council on October 6, 2017 signed by 31 residents urging the new Mayor and town to implement recommendations of the Walton report. The entire volunteer group of residents monitors and provides input to the activities of the Town of Dewey Beach. DCA gas bi DCA’s volunteers are residents with skills in business, accounting, management among others who monitor and provide input towards the goal of bringing accountability to Town Council and Town hall for the residents of Dewey Beach. If you agree that the Walton Report recommendations should be implemented, and have a skill and interest in doing so, please email us with a note of how you might be able to assist us at news@deweycitizens.org, and we will contact you. We do not solicit for, or accept money and are not associated with any Dewey business interest, political group, political person, or interest group of any type. We unite under the banner of Accountability only.