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Cops use armored military vehicles to deliver shock and awe during routine police work
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/10/cops-use-armored-military-vehicles-to-deliver-shock-and-awe-during-routine-police-work/
Cops use armored military vehicles to deliver shock and awe during routine police work
By Travis Gettys
Friday, January 10, 2014 11:20 EST
As U.S. military operations wind down overseas, some of that surplus hardware has been used to equip cash-strapped local police departments.
Police and sheriff’s departments have been given at least 165 mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles since this summer, according to a recent Washington Post analysis.
The vehicles cost about $500,000 at the height of the Iraq war, but they’ve been donated or sold for about $2,000 or $3,000 to local law enforcement agencies as part of a national military surplus program.
“The military was pretty much handing them out to the different cities and I put in the application for it, and we got pushed through due to the violence in the city we have here,” said Officer Keith Holmes, of the Fort Pierce, Florida, police department.