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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPolice officer safety or surplus zeal: Military equipment spurs debate
In a pole barn in Franklin, sharing space with a motorcycle and a boat, sat an imposing military vehicle designed for battlefields in Iraq or Afghanistan, not the streets of Johnson County.
It is an MRAP a bulletproof, 55,000-pound, six-wheeled behemoth with heavy armor, a gunner's turret and the word "SHERIFF" emblazoned on its flank a vehicle whose acronym stands for "mine resistant ambush protected."
"We don't have a lot of mines in Johnson County," confessed Sheriff Doug Cox, who acquired the vehicle. "My job is to make sure my employees go home safe."
Johnson County is one of eight Indiana law enforcement agencies to acquire MRAPs from military surplus since 2010, according to public records obtained by The Indianapolis Star. The vehicles are among a broad array of 4,400 items everything from coats to computers to high-powered rifles acquired by police and sheriff's departments across the state."
*Even in Pulaski County, population 13,124, a more military approach to law enforcement is needed these days, Gayer suggested.
"The United States of America has become a war zone," he said. "There's violence in the workplace, there's violence in schools and there's violence in the streets. You are seeing police departments going to a semi-military format because of the threats we have to counteract. If driving a military vehicle is going to protect officers, then that's what I'm going to do."
But, to some, the introduction of equipment designed for war in Fallujah, Iraq, to the streets of U.S. towns and cities raises questions about the militarization of civilian police departments. Will it make police inappropriately aggressive? Does it blur the line between civilian police and the military?"
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2014/06/07/police-officer-safety-surplus-zeal-military-equipment-spurs-debate-mrap-military-vehicle/10170225/
pipoman
(16,038 posts)For all who believe that law enforcement's job is to "protect and serve", here we have a sheriff telling exactly the mindset of typical law enforcement. It isn't about bravely protecting the public, it is about over reacting and responding to threats both real and imagined with overwhelming deadly force in the name of "officer safety". Of course I may be influenced by having taken a beating with a flashlight while the officer yelled "officer safety" over and over...
damnedifIknow
(3,183 posts)Even in Pulaski County, population 13,124, a more military approach to law enforcement is needed these days,"
Oh this country is screwed.
RKP5637
(67,108 posts)the line between civilian police and the military?"
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)before them it was Hum-Vees, before that its was all manner of Chevy Blazers, and assortment of Dodge trucks....crap that was rusting away in military storage lots or armory fields. Once they figure out the up-keep and storage it takes up, it will be consigned to the perennial rust spot in a parking lot, where these things go to die. .
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)are not included in the cost to the public not just vehicle maintenance.
This diagram illustrates the difference in weight concentration between a short and long wheelbase truck. The shorter truck causes more wear and tear because all of its weight is concentrated in a smaller area.