Bloomington Police purchase of armored truck sparks debate

[phylodog]

Seriously? On any given day in Iraq, multiple units got ambushed, blown up, etc. Can you say with a straight face that police here are facing a similar threat? No? Didn't think so. Like I said, false equivalency.

Good thing there wasn’t a school shooting today.

Like I said, bias. You have it. Your life is more
important than other Americans. We get it.

 

[phylodog]

Yeah. Okay. Every town 30K and under gets to have a $225K armored vehicle.

Seriously, isn't that just another flavor of the "if it can save just one child" argument? I'm not against police having them. It kinda needs to be justified beyond, well, if you ever need it you'll be glad to have it. If that's a valid justification then what is it not valid justification to spend money on?

If you're Detroit, yeah. You probably need it. To have it sit there just in case you might ever need one isn't a great justification for that kind of money for a town of 85K and relatively low crime.

I’d love to see a comparison of the cost of this vehicle compared to other expenditures in Bloomington. How much does the city spend on abortions, drug treatment, welfare for the unwilling, etc.

I’m gonna guess they spend more on the “performing arts” in a six month period which is money pissed down a drain than what this vehicle costs.

 

[Woobie]

Just out of curiosity what is you opposition to LE having MRAPs?

I don't have one for departments that have a reasonable expectation to use them more than once a year or so. But Bloomington? They'll have to find things to do with it. I just can't see the expense to taxpayers being remotely worth it. Yeah, a few times a year in the entire country they come in handy, mostly in large cities. But smaller cities just don't need to spend taxpayer money on them. I don't care that anyone has an MRAP, I just don't want to pay for all of them. So let's think about spending that money where it is likely to be needed.

 

[Sylvain]

Not the Bearcats, which are extremely nice for LE work as far as size. Our MRAP is too big for most streets, but has been used in a few standoffs since we got it. If those same situations were in tighter areas of the city, it would have been useless.

We have the same problem over here and our city streets are even narrower.

The cops have been issued with a huge 6 by 6 military truck (worth 3 million dollars) that can't get into most Parisian streets.

They have been issued a few smaller (and cheaper) vehicles to get access to those narrow streets.

 

[Vigilant]

I’d love to see a comparison of the cost of this vehicle compared to other expenditures in Bloomington. How much does the city spend on abortions, drug treatment, welfare for the unwilling, etc.

I’m gonna guess they spend more on the “performing arts” in a six month period which is money pissed down a drain than what this vehicle costs.

Isnt Bloomington one of the cities that is going to staff opium dens with med personnel and narcan/nalaxone and pass out needles for free?

 

[GlockRock]

I don't have one for departments that have a reasonable expectation to use them more than once a year or so. But Bloomington? They'll have to find things to do with it. I just can't see the expense to taxpayers being remotely worth it. Yeah, a few times a year in the entire country they come in handy, mostly in large cities. But smaller cities just don't need to spend taxpayer money on them. I don't care that anyone has an MRAP, I just don't want to pay for all of them. So let's think about spending that money where it is likely to be needed.

it was purchased with money from the County public safety tax, not just Bloomington’s budget. They operate all throughout Monroe County and their team is made up of officers from different departments in the county.

 

[Woobie]

Good thing there wasn’t a school shooting today.

Like I said, bias. You have it. Your life is more
important than other Americans. We get it.

Lol, you are so predictable sometimes. You can project bias, but let's use our heads here. And how many times does that happen vs. any given day in Iraq? It's a matter of how often it is likely to be used. If they didn't get shot at in Iraq except for a couple of times a year, it wouldn't have been worth it to spend the money on up armor trucks. Conversely, if we knew that about 30 schools a day were going to get shot up, maybe we could justify the expense of having some on standby at every school.

 

[jamil]

I personally think all PDs should have one. It's not like they go patrolling the streets with the dang things. If a situation occurs every few years where the thing rolls out and protects officers, it's money well spent.

Oh, sure. Georgetown PD needs one. It'd be 1/3 of their fleet of vehicles. I'm not trying to make light of officer's lives. But like I said, what cost can't be justified if it can save just one officer's life? At some point it's impractical. Where's that point? Nice to have isn't need to have.

One thing I'd say though. Maybe the Poedunk counties might justify having one, and sharing it with other local PDs when need arises.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I don't have one for departments that have a reasonable expectation to use them more than once a year or so. But Bloomington? They'll have to find things to do with it. I just can't see the expense to taxpayers being remotely worth it. Yeah, a few times a year in the entire country they come in handy, mostly in large cities. But smaller cities just don't need to spend taxpayer money on them. I don't care that anyone has an MRAP, I just don't want to pay for all of them. So let's think about spending that money where it is likely to be needed.

What's it cost to sit there until it's needed?

Scott Co Sheriff's Dept got humvees. They sit in the parking lot nearly all the time. Until it floods, then they've been used to evacuate people who otherwise couldn't be evacuated. They don't "find things to do with them".

 

[Woobie]

Oh but no, can’t have an MRAP, that’s an “assault vehicle”. That scares kids and keeps old people up at night fretting.

Did you read what you quoted? How much common sense do you have to drop a quarter million dollars on something you can get for free? That's not scary. I take it back. It is scary that people can be that stupid.

 

[Kutnupe14]

I don't have one for departments that have a reasonable expectation to use them more than once a year or so. But Bloomington? They'll have to find things to do with it. I just can't see the expense to taxpayers being remotely worth it. Yeah, a few times a year in the entire country they come in handy, mostly in large cities. But smaller cities just don't need to spend taxpayer money on them. I don't care that anyone has an MRAP, I just don't want to pay for all of them. So let's think about spending that money where it is likely to be needed.

Collectively, which do you think is the more costly to the taxpayer, in terms of wasteful spending for tools and equipment? The military or LE? When the military spends billions on BDU patterns, and then scraps them, I think its very difficult to oppose LE obtaining equipment that has a practical use, regardless how rare an occasion that use is.

 

[jamil]

We have the same problem over here and our city streets are even narrower.

The cops have been issued with a huge 6 by 6 military truck (worth 3 million dollars) that can't get into most Parisian streets.

They have been issued a few smaller (and cheaper) vehicles to get access to those narrow streets.

I'm not an expert in physics, but I don't think that little streamer thingy that's tied to the bumper is gonna keep it from rolling away.

 

[Woobie]

it was purchased with money from the County public safety tax, not just Bloomington’s budget. They operate all throughout Monroe County and their team is made up of officers from different departments in the county.

And that money came from whom? It didn't just fall out of the sky.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

One thing I'd say though. Maybe the Poedunk counties might justify having one, and sharing it with other local PDs when need arises.

That's generally how it works. The sheriff's office, state police post, etc. has it. Same as SWAT teams, crime labs, booking facilities, and a host of other shared resources that are too burdensome or unwieldy for small departments to maintain.

 

[SMiller]

How many life's have been saved from having a bearcat?


Seems to me the damage comes to the first or first few police and their vehicles, what ongoing threat has been still going 30min. later when the bearcat showed up?

 

[Woobie]

Collectively, which do you think is the more costly to the taxpayer, in terms of wasteful spending for tools and equipment? The military or LE? When the military spends billions on BDU patterns, and then scraps them, I think its very difficult to oppose LE obtaining equipment that has a practical use, regardless how rare an occasion that use is.

Sigh. What is it with you people. Why can't I be against all of it? I'm against every piece of crap PEO soldier thinks we need. I'm against Trump's parade. I'm against town marshalls getting MRAPS. I'm against the army switching uniforms every six seconds. I'm against government waste.

 

[Vigilant]

Collectively, which do you think is the more costly to the taxpayer, in terms of wasteful spending for tools and equipment? The military or LE? When the military spends billions on BDU patterns, and then scraps them, I think its very difficult to oppose LE obtaining equipment that has a practical use, regardless how rare an occasion that use is.

​Ooooh! BURN!

 

[Kutnupe14]

Sigh. What is it with you people. Why can't I be against all of it? I'm against every piece of crap PEO soldier thinks we need. I'm against Trump's parade. I'm against town marshalls getting MRAPS. I'm against the army switching uniforms every six seconds. I'm against government waste.

Fair enough. I can appreciate consistency.

 

[phylodog]

Lol, you are so predictable sometimes. You can project bias, but let's use our heads here. And how many times does that happen vs. any given day in Iraq? It's a matter of how often it is likely to be used. If they didn't get shot at in Iraq except for a couple of times a year, it wouldn't have been worth it to spend the money on up armor trucks. Conversely, if we knew that about 30 schools a day were going to get shot up, maybe we could justify the expense of having some on standby at every school.

Oh, I'm very easy to figure out. Since I spent time as both a soldier and as a police officer I tend to want to see both outiftted with the tools and equipment they need to perform their duties and go home at the end of the day. It isn't rocket science. What I lack is an envy for one or the other which makes me resentful.

Of the trillions of dollar this country pisses away on bull**** scumbags, killing babies, sponsoring countries which hate us and feeding/clothing/housing those perfectly capable but unwilling to get off of their asses you can bet I'm going to side with offering protection to the small percentage of Americans willing to put their ass on the line to protect this country.

Sorry bout that.

 

[Woobie]

What's it cost to sit there until it's needed?

Scott Co Sheriff's Dept got humvees. They sit in the parking lot nearly all the time. Until it floods, then they've been used to evacuate people who otherwise couldn't be evacuated. They don't "find things to do with them".

When you drop a quarter mil on something, the cost of not using it is political. They will use it, but not because they need to from a tactical perspective.