Does Your Police Department have a Tank? by Spocko
To follow up on Digby’s post on the Militarized Police Industrial Complex.
This is an MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protection Vehicle)
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| Warren County Undersheriff Shawn Lamouree poses in front the department’s mine resistant ambush protected vehicle, or MRAP, on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013, in Queensbury, N.Y. The hulking vehicles, built for about $500,000 each at the height of the war, are among the biggest pieces of equipment that the Defense Department is giving to law enforcement agencies under a national military surplus program. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) (Yahoo News) |
The military wants to give out 13,000 of these to police departments around the country, for free. Maybe your county already has one.
Check out this handy spreadsheet here to see if your police have one.
I’m sure if your county has one it’s for a good purpose. But what?
I found this nice article from April 2014 Rural Wis. Sheriffs Get Armored Ex-Military Vehicles
Nice line from the piece with some interesting stats:
Just why two mostly rural sheriff’s departments would need such massive war machines is not clear. St. Croix County has only 79 full-time deputies and 16 part-time deputies, and Juneau County has only 48 full-time deputies and 8 part-time deputies.
According to FBI-compiled crime statistics, St. Croix County had 30 violent crimes in 2012, 24 of which were aggravated assaults. That same year, Juneau County had 29 violent crimes, none of which were murders or robberies.
While the vehicles were given to local agencies for free, the cost of maintaining them is entirely the burden of the department’s budget.
Juneau County is one of the smaller Wisconsin counties with 26,664 residents.
So what are they buying at the Urban Shield Militarized COP Gear Trade Show?
To quote from the movie Air Force One:
President Harrison Ford: Kathryn, if you give a mouse a cookie…
Vice President Kathryn “Glenn Close” Bennett: It’s gonna want a glass of milk.
Free tanks need accessories! And matching gear. And sonic cannons, and drones… Now where is my checkbook?