So, after Ferguson, the US is starting to rethink giving military equipment to local police. It’s just too tempting to use when other methods would be a lot more effective.
The question is why did the Pentagon start giving it away in the first place? A columnist for our local paper explained the reason for Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles. He has a friend who served a tour in Iraq managing a motor pool who said maintaining them was a maintenance nightmare.
MRAPs started when the troops started installing steel plates to their humvees to protect themselves against mines/IEDs (improvised explosive devices). Then the military started building MRAPs to protect the troops, the IEDS became more powerful, the military made the MRAPs bigger and stronger, and the cycle continued. By the end the MRAPs were so big and heavy they could only travel on paved roads and couldn’t maneuver through narrow city streets.
The military now has a lot more than they need, and the MRAPs are expensive to dismantle, so the military started giving some of them to local US police departments. The police love driving them, of course, but a lot of citizens/taxpayers don’t think they’re such a great idea.
It will be interesting to see what happens. If I saw the police riding around our little town in one of them, I would feel more nervous than reassured. What about you?
September 4, 2014
Making too many was a mistake but giving the excess to police is practical. Not in little towns but big bad cities.
UH OH— Too big for narrow city streets.
I imagine they’re so heavy they would be hard on our main streets. Another burden for the taxpayer.
I would think something was badly wrong if I saw the police in my neighbourhood using them (or any other neighbourhood outside a war zone).
Agreed!
Nuts! A lot of people have made a lot of money.