Yes it has, haven’t you heard, THERE ARE TANKS IN THE STREETS OF SMALL TOWNS!
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Might be new in Indiana, but old news for Arizona. “America’s Toughest Sheriff” Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County, Arizona has had one for some years now. It’s not mentioned or pictured at the website www.msco.org but if there’s an opportunity for some PR you can bet it will be brought out for show & tell.
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The tiny town of WIlliston FL needed their MRAP when the neighborhood “patriot” declared “game on” and started shooting up the neighborhood. The cops got pretty close in the MRAP and returned fire until the guy got glass in his eye and gave up. No fatalities, but the MRAP actually took a lot of damage.
I was going by the video. No turret or gun. Basically an armored jeep. Of course even if it did have a machnine gun turret, it would still be nothing at all like a tank.
''You are seeing police departments going to a semi-military format because of the threats we have to counteract. ‘’
The very definition of leading from the rear.
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Somebody has to buy them… There is a need to diversify the market for tank purchases.
The end of the tank? The Army says it doesn’t need it, but industry wants to keep building it.
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What on earth would anyone have to gain by attacking the police? As has been pointed out, its neither profitable nor practical in any way. Not everything “escalates”, especially when its logically absurd to.
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Since when did logic have anything to do with it, wrybread? As for who would want to attack police, why would anyone want to attack school kids, theatre patrons, shoppers in a mall?
What about those who truly believe that it is time for armed rebellion? How about the mentally disturbed? Maybe a gang wants revenge? Maybe a religious cult?
I don’t know who or what will happen, but just reading the news shows all sorts of people doing insanely violent things. And it keeps getting worse.
“You may remember private citizens sending you guys guns on the onset of WWII. You’re welcome” Yes, we thank you - as this helped Britain keep alive the fight for freedom and democracy while America took two long years to decide whether Mr. Hitler was a bad man or not. You’re welcome!
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Unless you personally travelled back in time to send guns to the UK at the onset of WWII I think that “you’re welcome” is a little out of place.
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It’s nice to see enthusiastic, on-the-job cosplay of Hill Street Blues characters. If this sheriff writes a fanfic version of Lt. Hunter’s monograph on degenerate mud-race people, that would be something to behold.
It’s getting worse? What is, exactly? Use actual statistics, not “what’s in the media” as a response, please.
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Not being a statistician nor knowing who would keep such statistics, I can only use Google to look up such things. So, how about this article from CNN that lists the 25 deadliest mass shootings?
I did find something at Stanford University’s site http://library.stanford.edu/projects/mass-shootings-america
And then there’s things that make the news, but not really recorded as a statistic. Like people walking into children friendly, family restaurants, carrying AK47s and other military weapons. In the name of Gun Rights.
While there is a wider spread of news, that has been true since the 1990’s. How many mass shootings made the news in 1990? How many have made the news in just the first half of 2014?
All that is just from the most cursory of investigation. And I do see the violence getting worse.
But the main point I am trying to make is this: If there’s this many crazies going after civilians, how long before they start targeting cops?
People already do target cops. It doesn’t happen enough to wrap them in MRAPs.
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Don’t be surprised when the criminals start using rocket launchers and armour piercing sabot rounds in .50cal mahine guns.
And then the cops go for real tanks.
And then the criminals get anti-tank weapons
And then …
If the criminals are smart, they’ll send the sheriff’s office daily coupons for Big Macs. They’ll be too bloated to fit into the tank up until their heart attacks take them down.
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does the distinction between “armour” and “tanks” need to be explained to BoingBoing
No, it doesn’t, but don’t let that stop your pedantic quest.
stupidly oversized armored military truck… It’s insulting, man. We’re supposed to be the rational ones, the evidence-based ones, the ones who can deal with the plain, unadorned truth. Show us the facts and trust us to come to a wise conclusion.
Taking concern driving trollies to another level.
It’s an armored car
Dude its Cory Doctorow flushed Its like, his whole schtick
How about the pedantic schtick of those who whine about semantics while being obtuse? You notice that old and tired, whiney, trite, beside-the-point schtick yet?
It is simply an armored car
Tank synonyms: armored vehicle, armored car, combat vehicle
Sigh… Now, can we please drop the insulting, boorish, trite, pedantic distractions and get to the actual meat of the matter? The corrupt, wasteful and draconian militarization of our police forces?
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Hi Cowcide.
About the meat: You used the word “wasteful” and one reason that this item was purchased was that it cost $5000. That’s less than most used cars. I wholeheartedly agree that there should only ever be extremely rare need for it, but I do see some genuine need for it.
The MRAP purchased in this article is replacing an existing vehicle owned by the department (which they had used). “In Johnson County, the sheriff’s department had been using a 22-year-old armored “Peacekeeper” vehicle from military surplus before it became unreliable.” The “Peacekeeper” is much smaller, but this vehicle also is not armed - it does the same job, and was bought at a reasonable price.
So, while heavy guns and other large military items may be outrageous, this really doesn’t seem to be a crazy buy. It’s just restocking.
Public service announcement for auto-play victims:
If you don’t see something like this before plug-ins load:
Your browser is not safely configured to surf the Internet. Seriously, you’re a sitting duck.
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Hi Cowcide.
Hello thar! 
About the meat: You used the word “wasteful” and one reason that this item was purchased was that it cost $5000. That’s less than most used cars. I wholeheartedly agree that there should only ever be extremely rare need for it, but I do see some genuine need for it.
As others have pointed out, this will cost vastly more than its initial purchase price once you factor in externalities such as maintenance, training, etc.
I also really don’t see the need for it unless we are to agree with the sheriff that the US is a war zone, which is ridiculous and delusional. If the small town gets attacked by a meth-addled Godzilla, they need to call the National Guard.
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Umm… it seems the people you quoted largely agreed that the acquisition of these vehicles was absurd. When you say “concern trolling”, it seems like you are saying you think people are being inauthentic and just bringing this stuff up in bad faith to get their troll kicks. I think there is just a disagreement about how the framing of these issues effects how they are received. For example, I posted this story as a link on my FB wall because I agree with the core thrust of it, yet I went into the whole “Of course, it’s not really a tank” thing because I’m not comfortable with how truthful that framing sounded to me. I know if I ask a normal person to draw a tank, they’ll draw that thing with the tank treads and the huge main cannon. “People are gonna call me out or be confused on this part, so let’s just avoid that whole issue and comically mention how it’s military grade, mine and ambush resistant and completely absurd”
