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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Intra-uterine devices?

I don't understand how normal people don't see this and instantly become radicalized

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

Protect from IUDs?! intrauterine devices?? They sure are taking birth control seriously in Prosper boys..

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??

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.

POV your local police department turns into an occupying military force. This is beyond dystopian. 2024 ❌ 1984 ✅

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?

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.

Intra-uterine devices?

This is probably more dangerous for them then a normal car. The features that make a MRAP good at surviving an IED also make them top heavy and easy to roll. I'm fairly sure they are more likely to have a reckless driver behind the wheel then have a roadside bomb.

Looks like it already has an oil leak

"Yippy Dippy Doooo!!!! We can hide in here as the kids get killed in Uvalde!!!!" - Texas Cops

The Pedestrian & Protester Pulverizer 9000™️

OBVIOUSLY it's so that next time there's a SCHOOL SHOOTING they can rock up in STYLE while they wait for the Shooter to run out of Bullets or Bodies whichever happens first!

Iud's are baby killers. They stop cop sperm from impregnating their victims.

.. to hide in while your children are being shot at.

Someone spent their civil forfeiture money at the military surplus store.

I've never wanted to blow something up so bad in my life. I mean, I don't want anyone to get hurt and I wouldnt actually do this since its stupid, but the desire is very strong.

I like that it pissed itself.

If you need this type of vehicle as police, you're the issue, not the people around.

I love how they are displaying their parking skills

Mobile oppression palace?

To counter those vicious abortists

The fun thing is a lot of smaller departments find out after they get something like this, they can't afford to actually use or maintain them. Shit be expensive yo.

My extremely rural county of 60k population has one for some reason. The best part is, the one time there was actually an armed and dangerous individual on the run, they called in aid from a major city an hour away. They did however parade around with it and strongly consider actually pulling at the tractor pull with it