Investigation uncovers phony law enforcement agency at Navy yard that spent $21M on weapons, vehicles

By Brian Seay

The security team acquired a high-speed boat worth $150,000, and then spent more than $200,000 to tie it up at a private marina. (Photo: Federal News Radio)
An investigation has uncovered an off-the-books police force operating at the Navy’s largest public shipyard that had operated for nearly a dozen years and spent an estimated $21 million in public funds on weapons, vehicles and gas.
The inspector general at the Naval Sea Systems Command conducted the investigation in 2014, according to Federal News Radio, but the findings are only just now coming to light.
The investigation was allegedly conducted only after military investigators and federal prosecutors refused to launch their own investigations. No one involved with the unsanctioned police force has faced punishment, and millions of dollars worth of equipment is still missing.
Investigators say after the 9/11 terror attacks, funding was made available to agencies to beef up security, and that’s when unarmed guards at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth hired more people, armed them, gave them badges and boats, and vehicles with phony license plates.
“These folks are not law enforcement, but they wanted to be, and all of their actions were done to become a law enforcement organization,” said Peter Lintner, the

Source: Guns.com