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In a Washington Post article by Radley Balko regarding police use of military vehicles, he disclosed that Ohio State obtained an armored vehicle for football games:
"And the Ohio State University Police Department asked for an armored vehicle to assist with "football missions". (The Pentagon gave Ohio State an MRAP in September 2013, and school police deployed it to football games, the department told a student newspaper, so as to have a presence)."
May not be a bad idea since we know what type of unsavory characters urbz has been hanging out with....
What else is the University security suppose to do when their admissions office makes crime a prerequisite to enrollment?
FWIW our military has MRAPs coming out of their ears. We're leaving/destroying hundreds in IRQ and AFG.
Our local police dept. has one, as well. It was in the newspaper about a year ago because the PD can't afford to fuel it/maintain it, so it just sits in a garage. Personally, the militarization of our local PD's worries me.
It worries me quite a bit as well. Makes sense they give them away though because then departments can buy new ones, and budgets don't have to shrink.
I don't like that everywhere you turn in this country you're reminded of war. It's not like that in other places.
What other places? The moon?
In no way does any football program (or sports program, or police department, or anyone but the military) need an MRAP for any reason, especially crowd control or "having a presence". Seriously, these things can handle land mines and IEDs, and were used during the war in Iraq. This is just silly.
And the douchebags at Ohio State still keyed it.
Cops do not need military equipment. This is ridiculous. "The keeping up with the Jones'" excuse is nauseating.
all of the protests going on after shooting unarmed people the local PDs need to upgrade their guns, vehicles and probably get some Apaches too.
Recruiting tool?
/s
The armored vehicles have been present on football Saturdays for a while now. I've never seen them used for anything other than blocking streets to control traffic around the stadium
then, this armored vehicle is nothing more than a substitute for the department's small "junk".
We have snipers on top of the Big House!
Good. I have a list.
The vehicles are there to keep all coolers safe from people using them as toilets. Not working to well though.
Tin foil hat me all you want, but this kind of thing is worrying. The American political system is broken but the elite of both sides know they're golden as long as the American people can be distracted with social media and mindless TV programming. We won't be bothered to force change until the day a real economic calamity arrives and suddenly the grocery store is empty, the gas stations closed and the ATMs aren't dispensing money. I honestly fear this police militarization is their insurance policy for when that day comes.
look at the massive (truly massive) procurement of weaponry by Dept of Homeland Security over the past 3ish years.
Must be the evil twin of MIT professor Noam Chomsky.
No tinfoil needed. Just looking at history in general says that those sort of things are what happen next unless a society's people course correct. It's particularly difficult to course correct now though because objections have been recast as the person saying them being crazy. You said a perfectly reasonable thing and you yourself had to provide cover with your tin foil comment. I've found myself doing the same thing. (This sentence here feels like a place I would normally do that). I don't know what the solution is, but I think part of it has to involve more people sharing ideas.
Militarize the police
Make prisons for profit.
Make sure people stay poor.
The powers that be are doing a great job...
Reminds me of my favorite Harbaugh picture.
"In my China, you are allowed to cross the provincial borders."
But as someone pointed out the military has a ton of these vehicles and other surplus items. Since 1997 a lot of this material was provided to local law enforcement through the 1033 program. If you were a police department, you basically could fill out some forms and come pick up whatever you wanted.
The Obama Administration put some limtis on this program back in May. This Washington Post article does a nice job explaining it.
There's only one Tank that belongs on a college campus
In Chesterfield County, South Carolina—population 46,000—the sheriff requested a vehicle that could withstand both roadside bombs and a type of machine gun round that can shatter concrete.
After all, you never know what those folks across the border in Anson County, North Carolina will do if provoked. Obviously, they just want to be prepared for everything that could possibly happen in a county of 46,000.
I don't blame them. I hear the people in Anson County butter their bread on the bottom of the slice.
When the bomb sniffing dogs find something in our opponents gear. /s
