Spotted, Heavy duty cop car in Marietta Ohio

I saw this beast in Marietta last week, what the hell do they need this for?

It was very awesome though

Zoomed

As somebody from that area, they need it to bust Meth houses.

That's some serious meth factory in such a pretty town

Govt is giving them away to law enforcement agencies instead of scrapping. Mostly for swat teams and P.R. duty, no artillery though..

I don't know if they give them away, but the government has a program for selling ex-military equipment to law enforcement agencies at very low prices. They have depots all over the US stocked with all kinds of stuff; trucks like that, Humvees, regular pickups and cars, boats, fire trucks, standby generators, and most anything else you could imagine - I visited a depot located north of Minneapolis a few years ago, there was some cool stuff there.

what the hell do they need this for?

Sure you want to open that can of worms? That's a question for the off-topic section, honestly.

Govt is giving them away to law enforcement agencies instead of scrapping.

That's a very atonal way of describing a fairly insidious act. Borderline euphemism.

They have depots all over the US stocked with all kinds of stuff; trucks like that, Humvees, regular pickups and cars, boats, fire trucks, standby generators, and most anything else you could imagine

....why?

Im proud of myself for all the restraint ive exercised in this thread.....so far.

Spotted: police state USA, I swear...

Vigo wrote:

They have depots all over the US stocked with all kinds of stuff; trucks like that, Humvees, regular pickups and cars, boats, fire trucks, standby generators, and most anything else you could imagine

....why?

If they have surplus equipment, it may as well be put to good use rather than being scrapped.

Local law enforcement agencies all over the country seem to be getting more militarized over the past few years.

St Louis City and County both have had some for a while. Rarely are they used, but when someone is shooting out of a house and there isn't much cover around, its nice to see one roll up.

Apparently Blue Thunder was prophetic.

stuart in mn wrote:

Vigo wrote:

They have depots all over the US stocked with all kinds of stuff; trucks like that, Humvees, regular pickups and cars, boats, fire trucks, standby generators, and most anything else you could imagine

....why?

If they have surplus equipment, it may as well be put to good use rather than being scrapped.

Agreed, but just because a PD takes a surplus APC (or whatever those things are classified as) doesn't mean it's being put to good use.

This isn't a new thing...local municipalities have been getting military surplus equipment since WWII if not earlier. Maybe not armored vehicles, but jeeps, military trucks and all kinds of other things.

Will wrote: Agreed, but just because a PD takes a surplus APC (or whatever those things are classified as) doesn't mean it's being put to good use.

Doesn't mean it's being put to bad use either.

Eb4Prez wrote: Govt is giving them away to law enforcement agencies instead of scrapping. Mostly for swat teams and P.R. duty, no artillery though..

true, but the one pictured isn't a former military vehicle - it's a BearCat G2, which are specifically made for police SWAT teams and breach teams. The little hood scoop is a dead giveaway. They're not V-hulled so no good for combat these days. I think the military uses some for their own base police force SWAT teams as well, but that's about it. Foreign armies may use them though. IIRC they use a Ford F550 super-duty chassis, suspension, and drivetrain.

http://www.lencoarmor.com/law-enforcement/bearcat-variants/g2/

I lived in that area as well, while I can't comment on any meth problem, that region (mainly the neighboring counties to the south) is famous for it's weed.

I'd stop short of calling it the militarization of local police forces. The North Hollywood shootout in '97 changed things forever.

They need it for police chiefs with tiny hootuses

They want it for meth lab/grow house busts.

I see a pattern in Ohio....http://thelantern.com/2013/09/ohio-state-university-police-bring-in-military-vehicle/

Why in the hell would a college campus need one of these? Meth labs a problem on campus too?

MRAP in one of our local small towns

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Washington-City-Council-Approves-MRAP-Request-248497811.html

Old girl is still around. St Louis County has theirs. Looks like the guy took a dump. I tried finding Jefferson County's. I figured they'd have one being the biggest meth county in the US, but then again, they have the resources of all the other guys around including the DEA.

Eb4Prez wrote: Govt is giving them away to law enforcement agencies instead of scrapping. Mostly for swat teams and P.R. duty, no artillery though..

A co-worker is married to the local county SWAT team member and he bought a similar vehicle for a few hundred bucks. Cost him a few thousand to get it from Texas to Spartanburg. It gets 3 mpg of deisel.

EDIT: Yup, its an MRAP.

Guys don't grow up, we all want the biggest and coolest toys. They're playing dress up. Cowboys and robbers! Weeee

All the mass school shootings, the military base shootings, the busted up terrorist cells (including the ones that don't make the nightly news, 9-11, meth houses, gangs with ever-larger caliber weapons...

I'm glad these things are out there. And I'd have to say to anyone that's worried that the military/paramilitary is taking over: those soldiers/officers are Americans with families like the rest of us. They'd never participate in that sort if paranoid behavior.

(Waco TX notwithstanding )

dculberson wrote: Guys don't grow up, we all want the biggest and coolest toys. They're playing dress up. Cowboys and robbers! Weeee

Until one of them saves your neighborhood or your kids school.... But that'll NEVER HAPPEN in a place like Sandy Hook... Nahhhh I'm just paranoid!

(Not meant as a knock on your post or you...)