Antioch PD MRAP

[db42]

This is a police department not a military base. I have never heard of any IED attacks, RPG toting thugs, or any other such dangers warranting such a vehicles purchase.

Have you recently been invaded by a foreign power? No?
So you won't have a problem turning over any ARs or AKs you might own - afterall, this is not a battlefield and your area doesn't experience any such dangers warranting such a vehicles weapon's purchase.

This is not Iraq. I find this highly disturbing.

Put on your big boy pants and get over it - you have toys, they can have toys to.

More importantly, any department that has a SWAT team should have an armored vehicle for the swat team - it's a bulletproof truck.
Have a hostage situation? Your MRAP is a giant mobile shield for everyone responding.

MRAPs have no offensive capabilities, they are 100% defensive - I will begrudge no one a shield.

[P5Ret]

You'd think the way some people have responded they are going to use it for patrol. I think Antioch is still using a surplus Brinks truck for SWAT. It might get used once or twice a month at month tops.

[yzErnie]

An MRAP's maintenance in an urban setting would be substantially less then driving it through sandy desert at all hours of the days and nights for days, weeks, months and years on end. The chances of it sitting in a PD parking lot hooked up to a battery tender and not run until absolutely needed is likely.

[TRICKSTER]

PDs have had armored cars for years and no one complained. Now they get an armored car that looks scary and some people here throw a fit. I wonder if they feel the same way about those scary looking black rifles. It's the Brady campaign argument all over again being used by people that should know better.

[IrishJoe3]

A free MRAP beats a $285,000 BearCat.

This. Not sure why people people get so worked up about because its "MINE RESISTANT!!!!"

Its a free flippin' armored vehicle, the fact that is labeled "mine resistant" is consequential and completely irrelevant. They're painted with CARC paint, a chemical weapon resistant paint. What, are local cops planning on utilizing Nuclear, Biological and Chemical weapons? Of course not.

I'd rather the trucks it sit in the back lot of Local PD then rust in some Army base boneyard.

[IrishJoe3]

LOL^^

Yea.. I'm sure everyone will be saying thank you when they have to raise taxes just to keep these things operational. You most likely won't be seeing these used very often b/c of the exorbitant costs of operation.

These will be used primarily by PR and marketing. Drive it to the schools for Dare and other such events.

I'll be saying thank you mr fed govt when SHTF and I go take one of these that have been abandoned at the local PD station.

I doubt they'll cost much to maintain. Its an empty truck; all the high end electronics/jammers/etc that the .mil uses will be removed. My local agency has a 1960s Army armored vehicle that sits in a garage with a trickle charger. Runs perfectly fine the few times a year they use it, despite the fact its 50 years old.

[IrishJoe3]

rediculous..... I would like to know how many MRAPs the military has issued to units to train with.
Before we hit Afghanistan we got a 3 day "this is a MRAP course". What I'm getting at is soldiers don't have this equipment state side and I don't see a real practical use for law enforcement. They require a ton of maintenance and are a colossal failure for quick deployment of troops.

THIS I agree with, but thats an Army failure not LEO. I'd love some MRAPs in my unit, we don't even have enough seats for PAX transport as it is.

Though, some SPC would probably run over a line of parked cars or somethiong....

[carlos4840]

I live in Antioch and one thing I can tell you is that we need that monster truck this towns going to ****

[CarlB]

I read somewhere back they get them for free but that parts are going to be very hard to get when needed and they do cost a bit to run. Also, most agencies will be putting around $80,000.00 into them for equipment that they need to have in them.

[John M]

Lots of good responses above.. Just to add,, over the years, the government has also passed on to LE agencies, helicopters, rifles (M-16's and M14's), 1911 handguns, helmets, tents, sleeping bags, gas masks, BDU's, Kbar knives, binoculars, night vision goggles, Alice packs, Boots and on and on..

[MaHoTex]

PDs have had armored cars for years and no one complained. Now they get an armored car that looks scary and some people here throw a fit. I wonder if they feel the same way about those scary looking black rifles. It's the Brady campaign argument all over again being used by people that should know better.

Imagine if (or when) the PDs paint the MRAP Black! "Oh the huge manatee!"

[Bobby Ricigliano]

If I was a Police Chief who was offered free military surplus equipment that could enhance the safety of my officers and the public (I.E. driving in and scooping up a wounded officer or citizen who is pinned down) I would turn it down because I would be afraid some random talking head on the internet doesn't like the way it looks.

You are better off to stick with old Crown Vics that have no ballistic protection whatsoever, because the old hooptie is less likely to displease people with its presence.

[Just-in]

If the engine is the Navistar MaxxForce and the Allison transmission advertised parts should be easy to come by stateside correct? That's a common engine, probably the same power plant present in a lot of commercial trucks on the road. The only thing if hate to see cities have to fork over money for is emmision controls, but then again with exempt plates would the city be exempt from the requirements for a DPF or some other system out there?

[Dutch3]

If the engine is the Navistar MaxxForce and the Allison transmission advertised parts should be easy to come by stateside correct? That's a common engine, probably the same power plant present in a lot of commercial trucks on the road. The only thing if hate to see cities have to fork over money for is emmision controls, but then again with exempt plates would the city be exempt from the requirements for a DPF or some other system out there?

School districts (exempt plates) are not exempt from diesel emission requirements for buses, so I don't think municipalities would be, either.

[LMTluvr]

If the engine is the Navistar MaxxForce and the Allison transmission advertised parts should be easy to come by stateside correct? That's a common engine, probably the same power plant present in a lot of commercial trucks on the road. The only thing if hate to see cities have to fork over money for is emmision controls, but then again with exempt plates would the city be exempt from the requirements for a DPF or some other system out there?

That's what I was thinking. The problem with most mil parts is where they have come from. Just like aircraft parts. Vendors charging $100 for $10 parts as that's the glorious supply system in use.