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A lot of police departments are just… gifted this shit by the military industrial complex.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militarization_of_police
They don’t have a need for it, but it looks cool parked at the county fair.
The problem is, once they have it, they reach for reasons to use it.
DOD doesn’t want to pay upkeep and it was designed for roadside bombs in remote mountains not Iranian drones.
Might as well give it to the cops, in case one of their supporters accidentally hits it while trying to bomb a women’s shelter or something.
They’re specifically not to be used on roads because they don’t fit, rollover if sneezed at and destroy our roads but fuck it they’re police right?
What are you talking about, that would fit perfectly parked in the bike lane
I dunno, it might have to “monster truck” its way over all the other motor vehicles already parked in the bike lane.
I’m confused about the design. If it’s designed for mountain areas but is top heavy and rolls easy, isn’t that a major design floor for an area where the terrain is likely to be steep from left to right in parts?
Maybe my idea of terrain in mountainous areas is wrong.
It’s designed to stay on roads.
Those roads are natural choke points where bombs are often hidden on the ground, which results in a high and heavy design.MATV begs to differ. We always had the technology. We just wanted a cheap solution to stop taking so many casualties.
Correct, they move slow but they are quite explosion survivable past the original design.
You have correctly identified one of many reasons the military hated these.
Tall but narrower than other options while having survivability in case of getting IED’d. I know HMMWVs are actually big but the MRAPs didn’t all have a much larger footprint.
Fun fact though, they had to add a gunners harness because the gunners were more likely to die in a roll over. Armored plates all up over your back but you get crushed because the Specialist driving hasn’t even driven anything bigger than his Civic and doesn’t have enough hours dealing with actual Afghan roads.
Hey, you can easily get them up to 50mph on an airfield runway and feel the death rattle telling you to slow down. It’s basically all operator error.
Is it “gifted” to them, or are they paying taxpayer dollars to purchase these war machines? When they’re turning our local communities into war zones, some of us might even question whether we should reduce their funding significantly if this is what they’re squandering our money on.
Watch them cower inside of this vehicle, idling in the parking lot as a school shooter empties one magazine after another.
They pay little to nothing to get them, then they pay everything to keep, maintain, and store it. As someone else noted, looks like it’s already leaking oil.
They pay very little for it. Essentially shipping.
Hmm, can’t decide if that’s better or worse.
Title of
your sex tapeour government’s entire domestic agenda…
When all you have is a hammer, etc.
I feel like these should be used as a sort of honey pot. If your police department buys one of these, fire everyone and start over from scratch.
I think these are handed down for cheap/free by the military. Not that a police department needs these types of vehicles.
Precisely this. If the military donates it, they can get budget to get a new one.
DoD hardware for police usually comes with contracts that state they have to be maintained in working order, because the DoD can just take them back if there’s a military need.
Effectively, it’s the PD paying to warehouse and maintain DoD equipment for them, as long as the DoD doesn’t mind the stuff getting used once in a while.
The military will never want these back. In fact most of the stuff they give police is extremely obsolete from a military perspective.
Honestly this seems kinda sensible.
It’s a cover. The military is never asking for this equipment back unless they’re conscripting the cops to the front line in the Rockies because of the surprise North Korean invasion.
IUD jokes aside, I think the way the cops are grinning is enough to say they don’t need it and they view it as a toy.
I mean, I’d be pretty excited to get to drive one.
Let’s say you’re a cop and you get a call: there’s a hispanic gay crossdresser armed with a .50BMG sniper rifle with explosive rounds reported on the roof of the KwikeeMart, and they’re threatening to shoot the Walmart across the street unless they’re called by their proper pronouns, black lives/matter. This situation calls for an immediate response with at least a MRAP, and that’s only because they don’t have the funding for an airstrike from an A-10.
Yeah I mean they would need an MRAP to keep them safe while they wait for the shooter to finish up or run out of ammo. We’ve got to think of the officers and their safety.
Fun fact. That MRAP does not protect against .50 cal rounds.
Sounds like they are in desperate need of an M1A2 Abrams then
All the better reason for the government to fund the airstrike option.
F-35’s coming to a local police department near you!
[…] only because they
don’t have theran out of funding for an airstrike from an A-10.FTFY
Operating an A-10, without firing its nose gun, runs about 19k-25k and hour. A full load of rounds is 1200. They fire at a rate of 3900 rounds per minute. The rounds, depending on the exact type, cost between 90 and 175$ per round. This also doesn’t include the cost of maintaining the gun which incurs a lot of maintenance because of all the heat, and forces, involved.
For real? Shooting the entire load of ammo is done in like 20 seconds? SO all those brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr memes should be more like brrr?
correct. the reality is that is fires in short bursts. the rounds are huge and include, DU and tungsten cores, incendiary loads, high explosives, and others. a one second burst of fire from the A-10’s GAU 8 Avenger Gatling gun is enough to destroy anything the rounds can penetrate.
When a pirate is flying it, it goes Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
In that case, I’d like to have one A10 airstrike of loan forfait please.
Pretty please?
I mean, we can’t exactly shoot loan forfaiting. We can shoot the financial industry executives though.
…yet
Didn’t police actually bomb parts of a town? But that might be from my limited knowledge about history
Yeah, the Phillie cops bombed an entire city block into rubble when they went after the MOVE group of fanatics. Coincidentally it was in a black neighborhood. What were the chances of that, eh?
Maybe not exactly what you had in mind, but the Battle of Blair Mountain ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain ) is an excellent example of the dynamic between police, capital class, and labor.
Edit: fixing my stupid link; thanks for the heads-up!
Please, anyone who reads this, stop posting links to the mobile version of Wikipedia. It doesn’t switch automatically on PC, and I see it happen all the time. Just take the half a second to remove the “.m” from the beginning of the link, save everyone else from the pain of having to be surprised by it and taking the time to do it themselves.
I totally missed that. I completely agree and apologize for the oversight.
All good, it’s a really common mistake.
Please, anyone who reads this, stop posting links to the mobile version of Wikipedia. It doesn’t switch automatically on PC, and I see it happen all the time. Just take the half a second to remove the “.m” from the beginning of the link, save everyone else from the pain of having to be surprised by it and taking the time to do it themselves.
Tulsa, I believe they bombed the black communities while attempting an ethic genocide.
You’re a bit mixed up there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_massacre
There was a thriving black community in the Greenwood district. The whites resented “thriving” and “black” being in the same place. Read on and draw your own conclusions.
Slightly too big to fit through a school hallway. Just big enough to wait outside in the parking lot. We’ll take it - TX police
Illegally parked, no less
Intra-uterine devices?
Lol yeah, i like how no one else realizes it’s supposed to be IED (Improvised Explosive Device)
They meant what they said. It’s Texas- they seem far more afraid of women’s issues than explosives.
You know, i hadn’t considered that, but that makes a lot of sense actually!
It’s Texas. They’re terrified of the demon birth control.
Patrick tends to later his wry social commentary - that is 100% on purpose.
I don’t understand how normal people don’t see this and instantly become radicalized
Oh, me? Nah. Now, that car, damn that’s radical. Imma gonna enlist! :D
No, really, why do you think they post these?
because they believe those boots will never be on their necks, that’s why
I’m sure they do. But radicalized to do what? Wave a sign? Write an angry letter? Vote?
Besides, excessively strident opposition to the police MRAP will get you labeled a tankie.
No, shilling for Russia will get you labeled as a tankie. Not wanting police to have what is essentially a light tank, will not get you labeled as a tankie. Don’t try to dilute the term.
Seriously.
It’s like when you see a post about punching Nazis, and concern trolls show up to complain about people misusing and overusing the term. They don’t offer a correction, and they’re not defending anyone because no specific person or group of people was called out. They just saw a negative post about Nazis and fascists, got defensive, and tried to muddy the waters. A hit dog will holler.
Also, obviously any term will be misused and overused, and I don’t know every context people are talking about. But, for my part, I see complaints about people being called “tankies” way more often than people being called tankies, and in situations like the above. And it’s usually accompanied by complaints that right-wingers are calling people tankies, something I don’t actually see all that often. What I see more often than that is the terminally online, gatekeeping left. So, is the problem coming more from actual conservatives, or from leftists that other ostensible leftists want to dismiss out of hand?
I don’t know what’s in anyone’s heart, the specific people they’re talking about, or the contexts and personal experiences they’re talking about. I’m not going to assume bad faith. But, when I see people jump in to say “tankie” is a meaningless phrase, it just sounds like the same rhetorical game when people try to say “Nazi” and “fascist” have become meaningless.
shilling for Russia will get you labeled as a tankie
I’ve heard it aimed at anyone who is anti-cop. I’ve heard it aimed at folks advocating a general strike. I’ve heard it hurled at Palestine protesters. I’ve heard it aimed at people who won’t vote for Joe Biden.
Don’t try to dilute the term.
Way too late for that.
I’m going to need you to stop being so online.
As an intelligent, mature adult, I resort to insults when I don’t like what someone is saying. Thinking is hard!
Someone that thinks “tankies” are a thing that most people talk about or have even heard of outside of “online” needs to go listen to the bees buzz.
That’s just some stuff that you claim that you’ve heard. For the rest of us those are not the definitions. Tankie does not mean anti-cop at all, it’s a pro-authoritarian label for authoritarian communists.
Tankie does not mean anti-cop at all, it’s a pro-authoritarian label
It’s a “pro-Russia/China” label. You can be as authoritarian as you like without being a tankie. You just need to couch it as pro-NATO or pro-American.
But any suggestion that Western censorship, trade sanctions, or militant policing is bad can get you tagged as a Russian Bot or Chinese Wumao.
Nope, your last sentence is just plain wrong. Anywhere on Lemmy or Reddit or similar sites you look, it is a mainstream acceptable position to criticize any of those.
Wish that were true.
This is literally a thread on an anti-communist instance complaining that militant policing is bad…
I would love to believe you. But I’ve been called a tankie too many times in the last few months for the brave position of… “We shouldn’t be funding a genocide”.
Who the fuck cares if some random person calls you a tankie?
I don’t particularly care. But it does show how diluted it is already when Biden stans are using it to “other” anyone who won’t fall in line.
You won’t get labeled a tankie if you think the people’s police shouldn’t have one either. Then you get labeled an anarkiddie
You won’t get labeled a tankie if you think the people’s police shouldn’t have one either.
If you’re going all in on the “Fuck the CCP! Fuck Castro! Fuck Vuvuzela!” memes, maybe. But you need to lean in hard. Never let them think your hate is less than pure.
Then you get labeled an anarkiddie
Sure. Everyone knows why we need the Good Kind of Cops.
Proceeds to scroll through Nextdoor Ring camera porch pirate posts in earnest
I’m actually mixed on Castro. Venezuela isn’t communist. Neither is the CCP (I stand with the Chinese leftward opposition). And while we’re at it, the USSR shot the Soviets and killed the Revolution at Kronstadt.
Vietnam though? I can respect Vietnam. I don’t always agree with what they do, but they’re really doing their best.
It wasn’t the anarchists who keep doing dengist bullshit
Venezuela isn’t communist. Neither is the CCP
They are very real and literal instances of Communist economic theory put into practice.
And while we’re at it, the USSR shot the Soviets and killed the Revolution at Kronstadt
That’s ahistorical, if for no other reason than the full cohort of Communist policymakers in Russia weren’t hiding on a single naval base in four years after the October revolution.
Might as well claim the CIA killed all Latin American Communists in Bolivia during 1967.
It wasn’t the anarchists who keep doing dengist bullshit
Anarchists repeatedly tried and failed to build working power bases, all during the 1920s. From Communes in Paris to Shanghai, from Sioux Reservations to Spanish Republicans, the fascist militaries absolutely demolished anarchist movements.
Dengism, by contrast, secured the Chinese state from reconquest and expanded the Chinese economy to its modern apex.
No anarchist government can claim to have ended domestic poverty, excised foreign landlords, harnessed nuclear power, or put a flag on the moon.
Fifteen five year plans later, no other country is doing better.
Vietnam though? I can respect Vietnam.
Sure. They’ve been phenomenal. But they are following that same Chinese playbook. Harnessing foreign investment for domestic capital improvements and cancelling the dividends into a rising quality of life is a recipe for success.
This is textbook Marxism.
This is a little town on the north outskirts of the Dallas metro area with a population of about 38,000. The reasons they need it are innumerable. /s
In case the Mean Green were to turn liberal and rise up!
Protect from IUDs?! intrauterine devices?? They sure are taking birth control seriously in Prosper boys…
Improvised Uterine Device? Medically-assisted abortions are gone but the police still need protection from coat hangers.
I mean those gentleman need an MRAP to keep all the ladies off of them. You never know when an IUD is going to get you.
Is this a typo? I can’t find what IUD could mean otherwise.
Seems like some sort of understated pun with IEDs and DUIs. Just guessing.
Let’s not pretend the average cop isn’t too stupid to understand "I"mprovised "E"xplosive "D"evice.
It wasn’t some “witty pun on IED and DUI”. It was an idiot cop not knowing the proper acronym, nothing more.
Thank you adderbox76
How did you get DUI out of all that
Hmm, how indeed. Maybe try some trick like holding the word in front of a mirror and see what happens?
how could he possibly just see a three letter acronym and change the order HE MUTHT BE INTHANE
Looks like they are ready to violently suppress the rioting MAGAts when they riot after their criminal leader is imprisoned. What’s that? Those that work forces are the same that burn crosses? I guess they’re ready for any counter-protestors.
IUD?
Intra-Uterine Device??
How much of a threat is female birth control to these people??
insert joke about police officers and domestic violence here
Militarization of police.
Can’t use military on U.S. soil against its citizens? Turn police into the military to be used against its citizens.
Also: does the US have less troops on the ground around the world than they usually do? Gotta find a new market for the military industrial complex.
Don’t worry… terrorism will never end and wars will always find a way to creep back into our lives.
Prosper, Texas.
Population: 37,746
Crime rate per 1000 residents: 9.54
https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/tx/prosper
Nearby Dallas’ crime rate? 46.06 per 1000 residents.
Is it me or is this not exactly justified?
I suggest anyone interested in the history of police militarization pick up Radley Balko’s Rise of the Warrior Cop. There are so many tiny little towns with fully kitted out SWAT teams. Cops are taught to view themselves as soldiers in hostile territory. They go to trainings where they’re taught bullshit science to encourage them to kill.
They are soldiers in hostile territory. They’re occupying indigenous land. Killing a cop isn’t murder, it’s warfare according to the proper rules of engagement.
Not even in Dallas. But hey, at least some small town got to employ people to build this tank, and not call it socialism.
The “tank” was gonna be built either way. These items are purchased through a program that allows the military to sell off surplus equipment to law enforcement. So, basically, it’s a way of subsidizing the v already insane US military budget with money drawn from municipal and state taxes, while getting military hardware into the hands of cops.
I think law enforcement is lacking long range potential and will need HIMAS equipment as well.
What makes this even better is the military hated these things. They were forced on them and completely changed the way the military had to operate. Now the police want more of them. The big change? Being able to effectively engage with the local population. Why is our military more concerned with that than the police?
It’s even stupider than that.
It’s either military surplus or reconditioned units that are offered for resale to stateside PD’s to “pacify” civilian unrest.
It depends through which glasses you look.
For them every black person, LGBTQ person and woman who wants to own their own body by having an abortion is a criminal. And according to right wing extremist propaganda the leftists are extremely dangerous, so I guess that would justify the purchase of military equipment.
Do you have any idea how deadly woke people are? Every time someone shouts “black lives matter” a white Karen’s feelings are hurt. The only way to combat this is assault rifles and infantry vehicles.
I get the sentiment but this kind of hyperbole helps nobody
Those pigs aren’t helping anyone either. I’m just being sarcastic because that’s basically the only response I can think of when reading things like this. It’s a fucking disgrace. It’s like people want to live in a dystopian shit show so bad, they don’t know how fast to dig their own grave. It’s fucking embarrassing. Yeah, awesome, let’s go for extremism and get a militarized police state, because that never went wrong. Extremism always solves all our fucking problems.
Crime rate just means people who are arrested. They can increase or decrease it if they want to.
Wait…you think that if someone gets murdered, but they don’t arrest anyone, this doesn’t go into the crime rate?
You man someone had an accident? This is a safe place to live, we’ve never had anything like that happen here.
So you really think that is how it works? Wow.
What is this gishgallop? Care to summarize why these links support your claim that if there is no arrest, it’s not reported as a crime?
Do you think cops who are buying that sort of shit are reluctant to arrest people?
Common for agencies to have internal ticket and arrest quotas for their officers and to promote based on number of arrests by officer.
Consequentially, a change in the quota can result in a “crime wave” as the number of arrests rise. It is not uncommon for surges in arrests to occur during campaign season, as police departments lobby for bigger budgets and more manpower.
They might prefer other methods of “executing” justice
Now check the stats for crimes involving IUDs (or IEDs)
Very normal for suburbs (particularly white suburbs adjacent to black urban neighborhoods) to act like they’re living in a war zone, because they saw a guy in a durag smoking a scary cigarette outside of the gym.
I recently lived in Denton and frequently traveled to Prosper for various reasons.
It’s a little rich person town in the middle of nowhere. They definitely don’t need this.
POV your local police department turns into an occupying military force. This is beyond dystopian. 2024 ❌ 1984 ✅
Police don’t but they often want a vehicle for SWAT related reasons, but SWAT trucks costs hundreds of thousands. Meanwhile MRAPs are “free”.
Prosper, Texas is home to 40,000 people. In 2010 their population was under 10k. They have quadrupled in size and are near the DFW area, so it’s not really a surprise they took the 1033 offer for an MRAP. That said most of these decom’d heaps of shit are loathesomely expensive. “High Cost of Free MRAPs” by Strongtowns. Most MRAPs being given out are first and second gen versions. And for those first gens, they got sent to the front lines of the GWOT and got beat to shit while newer ones were tested and approved. These old models they’re “giving out for free” have tire drum parts never used on later versions, transmissions like that of an F650 with half the reliability, and are ticking time bombs of use. Most cities often estimate maintenance costs at $5k per year, until something actually breaks and they have to get a second MRAP to cannibalize to fix the first. (Hint - that’s why you often see them picked up in pairs or more)
That’s before the optics. Petaluma, California has one and the police chief has even said “yeah it kinda has some bad optics sending police around in a former war machine”.
If your city is wanting to pick one up, it’s because someone who has zero experience with them really likes the idea of a big scary diesel monster rolling up on drug houses, and hasn’t actually considered that if they can’t pony up thousands of tax dollars every 6 months to keep the moneymonster fed, the only place it’s gonna drive is into a storage shed.
Edit: I should add that these vehicles are incredibly versatile and aren’t necessarily a bad thing for municipalities. With their ride height, sheer bulk, and high torque engines, Fire and rescue could probably make great use them in several cities. They make fantastic road clearing vehicles in the event of large accidents needing to move to the side of the road, or pushing debris out of the way. Additionally in flood prone areas they make very good rescue vehicles due to their ride height and “crew space” inside. They DO have value outside of terrorizing civilian populations, just that that’s all PDs will use them for.
“Storage shed, you say” - Local Sheriff
Thank you for the extra information.
