Updated

School police departments across the country have taken advantage of free military surplus gear, stocking up on mine resistant vehicles, grenade launchers and scores of M16 rifles.

At least 26 school districts across the country have participated in the Pentagon's surplus program, which has come under scrutiny after a militarized police response to protests in Ferguson, Missouri. Law enforcement agencies used it to equip themselves during learner budget years, and since the Columbine school shooting in 1999, schools increasingly participated. Federal records show schools in California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada, Texas and Utah obtained surplus military gear.

Now, several districts say they'll return some of the equipment.

The Los Angeles Unified School District — the nation's second largest school district — said in a statement it would remove three grenade launchers it had acquired.