Removing roadblocks: Policy changes make LESO easier and more accessible to local law enforcement departments

Congress first authorized the Defense Logistics Agency to transfer excess military material to law enforcement in the early '90s, and additional legislation in 1997 established the agency's Law Enforcement Support Office, or LESO, to facilitate it.

In the nearly three decades since, DLA Disposition Services reverse logisticians and the LESO team have partnered to provide equipment originally valued at more than $8 billion to thousands of participating agencies.

Most requests the agency receives through LESO are for non-controlled items, like personal clothing, office supplies, tools, and emergency response equipment that become the property of law enforcement at no cost.

A fraction of additional requests DLA processes are for controlled items, which have historically been loaned, closely monitored, and returned for demilitarization when no longer needed. Those items include tactical rolling stock, like Humvees or mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, which make up less than 1% of transfers, and small arms, like pistols and rifles, which represent less than 2%.

In 2026, LESO transformation is underway. The agency is adapting itself to predict and meet warfighter needs in contested combat logistics environments. These new rules will help ease the administrative burden of participants and further narrow the gap between law enforcement and the tax-payer-funded excess equipment that can help them protect communities across the country.

An executive order released in April 2025 called for increasing the provision of excess federal equipment for law enforcement. One month later, DLA participated in discussions between War Department, Jus-tice Department and Department of Homeland Security officials on how to support the mandate. DLA commit-ted to developing a list of actionable recommendations.

LESO Western Team Lead John Williams said seven changes the agency eventually submitted to DOW combine a mix of participant feed-back, the input of governor-appointed state coordinators who serve as liaisons between DLA and recipients, and agency leadership experience.

The first policy adoption came in August, prioritizing law enforcement requisitions above those of other DOW Special Programs. All property that DLA declares suitable for reuse enters a 42-day reutilization, transfer, and donation or RTD, process cycle. During the initial 14-day availability window, military units receive priority for reusing DOW items. However, special program recipients can also make their requests during that period, and their requisitions are fulfilled if military units decline reuse. Among the early access group are several special programs including LESO, the Fire-fighter Property Program, Computers for Learning, Foreign Military Sales, the Civil Air Patrol and others.

Williams said this policy adoption effectively makes law enforcement agencies the top contender for all releasable equipment the armed forces no longer needs. Recent metrics from the DLA Disposition Services RTD team have already shown a significant jump in the percentage of successful LESO property requests.

Another big change, instituted in October, is the immediate title trans-fer of all non-controlled commercially available property outside of certain Humvee models. Previously, when a used pickup truck, street sweeper or bulldozer was provided to law enforcement, DLA maintained ownership of the item for a full calendar year, during which LESO staff kept account of the equipment in the agency's inventory. The arrangement resulted in a paper-work burden for participants.

"Recipients had to maintain and track and inventory at the LEA level and the state level," said LESO Branch Chief Brienne Hallifax. "This has been a very positive administrative change for them."

The most recent policy implementation is the transfer of small arms ownership to law enforcement. In March, two small arms in possession of the Alpena County Sheriff's Office in Michigan became the first that DLA fully transferred to non-federal law enforcement. That effort was followed by the transfer of 17 small arms to Michigan's Clawson Police Department in April.

Larry Goerge is the LESO coordinator for Michigan. He works with more than 300 LESO participants across the state, including 166 departments currently in custody of federal small arms they've received through the program. He said that he and other coordinators across the nation were very surprised and pleased when DLA spread word of the impending policy change.

"It's a huge benefit to our departments," Goerge said. "They can now treat these weapons like they treat their own inventory they purchased. If they make modifications, if a weapon is damaged, there's no longer a reporting requirement. Ownership will save them a lot of time and administrative burden."

There are about 40,000 small arms in LESO's inventory that are currently in the armories of participating departments. Goerge's program in Michigan is serving as a test bed for a larger policy rollout. He began registering law enforcement weapons in his state in 2022 and had a leg up on working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for small arms requiring registration.

He said a lot of effort has gone into helping establish a transfer system that meets the federal government's requirements. At times it has been painful, but a more streamlined process is now emerging.

LESO administrators say progress is being made and Michigan helped provide proof of principle.

"Larry was active, responsive, motivated and easy to work with," said LESO Eastern Team Lead Jake Collier. "He worked very hard to make sure all those small arms were registered correctly. He's ready to go."

The LESO team conducts required program compliance reviews with every participating state every other year. While her office will focus on compliance standards, Hallifax said she hopes the policy changes, along with several potential changes, will allow DLA's specialists to spend less time in the field poring through inventories and more time on customer education.

That includes focusing more closely on generating awareness and participation, providing system access training and troubleshooting, helping set up property want lists, and generally making the whole process more intuitive.

"Our customer isn't DOW," Hallifax said, stressing LESO's constant need to conduct outreach and education. "They're not a traditional RTD customer, in the sense of being military that's used to some of our 'DOW-isms.' These are law enforcement agencies, whose primary responsibility is protecting and serving, not being property disposal specialists or logisticians. … We're focused on helping get these LEAs over their hurdles to make it easy for them to be in our program."

Read more from this June 2026 edition of Loglines or browse more editions of the magazine on the Loglines Magazine website.