talltex wrote:K.Mooneyham wrote: I guess that's why they want the ones with the turret capable of mounting a machine-gun or grenade launcher. Its possible that someone is eventually not going to be able to resist the temptation to use such powerful hardware, very possibly over-reacting to something that doesn't necessitate the use of that sort of hardware. And it won't be very pretty when they do. Makes me feel a little ill thinking about it.As has been said many times in these discussions: "Once you have a new hammer, every problem begins to look like a nail." If you've got it sitting out there, it's hard to justify the expense if you don't ever use it.
Burleson TX has one. I learned this sitting on a jury on a Crowley case for resisting arrest. They rolled out the Bearcat packed with SWAT team guys. Definitely overkill IMOThe Feds giving military hardware to PDs for free is the problem, as has been stated. I think that program came out of public outrage that expensive military gear was being sold for pennies or just scrapped.