How has so much money, which was meant to help people weather a pandemic, been redirected to America’s ever-expanding police state? Police departments are good at getting federal resources — they have divisions specifically dedicated to it, separate from patrol officers or detectives — and more than a year into Covid-19, many are tapping into pandemic funding for uses that have little to do with public health. While some police grant-writers are upfront in public disclosures about the purpose of their money, others offer cryptic or misleading turns-of-phrase — like citing a need to scan body temperatures as justification for a military-grade night vision camera.