Jeremy Bender reports that eight different law enforcement agencies in Indiana have purchased massive Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) that were formerly used in Iraq and Afghanistan. The MRAP is a bulletproof, 60,000-pound, six-wheeled behemoth with heavy armor, a gunner's turret and the word "SHERIFF" emblazoned on its flank.
Pulaski County, home to 13,124 people, is one of the counties that have purchased an MRAP from military surplus. When asked to justify the purchase of a former military vehicle, Pulaski County Sheriff Michael Gayer told the Indy Star:
"The United States of America has become a war zone. There's violence in the workplace, there's violence in schools and there's violence in the streets. You are seeing police departments going to a semi-military format because of the threats we have to counteract. If driving a military vehicle is going to protect officers, then that's what I'm going to do."
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Subsentient on Wednesday June 11 2014, @08:55PM
"So it begins" -Kosh
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 3, Insightful) by isostatic on Wednesday June 11 2014, @09:50PM
It began a long time ago, and you, the American public, love it.
Look at the loving reaction to martial law in Boston when a couple of kids with a flash bang managed to kill a total of 3 people! You Americans cowered behind your TV sets clutching your copy of "land of the free home of the brave" with no sense of the irony.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Wednesday June 11 2014, @10:17PM
Your source of information was what; the news media? You think they'll show interviews with people they disagree with?
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday June 11 2014, @10:49PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 3, Insightful) by redneckmother on Thursday June 12 2014, @02:10AM
re: "So it begins" -Kosh
Or perhaps:
"And so it goes." - Vonnegut
Mas cerveza por favor.
(Score: 2) by Geotti on Thursday June 12 2014, @02:27AM
Actually, it's:
"So it has come to this." - Randall Munroe [xkcd.com]
(Score: 2) by quacking duck on Thursday June 12 2014, @02:33AM
"The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote."
- Kosh
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 12 2014, @09:33AM
"In my pants" - BV