USAToday writes that the feds have been giving away MRAPs, the mine-resistant ambush-protected trucks that are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan to your local police departments;
MRAPs did their job saving the lives of thousands of troops from roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, they’ll be hitting the mean streets of Columbus, Ohio, where campus police at The Ohio State University can presumably bust beer bashes with the behemoths. Cops in Madison, Wis., another Big Ten party town, can presumably do the same with theirs.
They’re free. Mostly. Which is a pretty good deal considering a fully tricked-out MRAP with bomb-signal jammers, radios and a .50-caliber machine gun in the turret can run about $1 million.
But like buying a new car, there’s a destination charge involved, according to Mimi Schirmacher, a spokeswoman for the Defense Logistics Agency. If local police or state government pay shipping costs and justify the need, DLA is happy to put them behind the wheel of a 37,000-pound MaxxPro from Navistar.
My biggest concern, among many that I have about this subject, is that criminals will take this as a challenge to up their games. I also think that the government should at least charge the police departments some money, provide some kind of reimbursement, anyway. Perhaps paying a couple hundred thousand dollars for these beasts would discourage police departments from looking like they’re at war with the rest of us. I’m all for saving lives, but do the police really need a vehicle designed to counter IEDs? And what the hell are campus security going to do with them?
They won’t be able to afford the maintenance on them anyway. More unnecessary “Tacti-cool” by Law Enforcement.
@50. “I have no idea if your apples and oranges are literal or metaphorical….” Hey! Let’s leave my apples out of this. That leaves only oranges, those acidic orbs that, when squeezed in sufficient numbers, provide a refreshing morning beverage and which, when spiced with a few splashes of cerain spirits make a satisfying, if somewhat femine, evening libation. Say, whatever happened to Anita Bryant anyway?
OWB, 2/17 Air Cav: depends on the terms of reference. Disparate items can be compared, however, the terms of reference define whether or not the comparison is meaningful.
Both apples and oranges are considered fruit. Therefore, in the context of “fruit”, they can indeed be meaningfully compared.
As distinct types of fruit, they can also be meaningfully compared vis-a-vis contrasted regarding their physical characteristics (average size, weight, acidity, caloric value, moisture content, etc . . . ).
Their tastes, however, are different enough that they can IMO a comparison is essentially meaningless, and contrast is more apropos.
all this talk of apples, oranges etc. reminds me of the comparisons of the colors of “Zorro the Gay Blade”s outfits.
With our “leaders” showing us that silly is good, in fact worthy of huge rewards, can you blame us for being more concerned with what’s in the mythical fruit bowl than the implications and ramifications of issuing MRAPs to a bunch of untrained civilians?
Silly season arrived early this year.
Like I said earlier, ROLLOVER, who will they blame & sue when that happens?