As federal relief money flowed into local governments to help cover the costs of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, several police departments in Minnesota spent emergency funding on riot gear, Tasers, body cameras and other "civil unrest equipment."
5 INVESTIGATES identified the purchases in a review of more than 1,400 spending reports from cities, towns and counties, which detailed their use of funding received through the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Those expenses could potentially be flagged during upcoming audits since the federal government made it clear that such funding could only be used to cover "expenditures due to the public health emergency."
"There are going to be scenarios that probably are troublesome," former state auditor Rebecca Otto said. "The general rule that I always said to local officials was, 'Make sure it passes the smell test.'"
The Big Lake Police Department used a portion of the city’s $863,000 in CARES Act funding to purchase items such as riot shields, rams, pepper spray (OC aerosol), pepper balls and ballistic bunkers worth at least $8,000.
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