According to the New York Times, it looks like the Land of Enchantment is also the land of Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armored vehicles provided to local law enforcement units. See article here and graphic below:
According to the story, New Mexico has an astonishing 42 of these vehicles out of the 432 that have been distributed nationwide, and, while I’m a bit fuzzy at counting the squares, it looks like that gives us more of these vehicles than any other state in the nation. As if that weren’t enough, we have nearly 10% of these military vehicles for 0.6 percent of the US population.
From a taxpayer perspective, the use of this type of material is a questionable investment (especially in rural areas). From the perspective of police interaction with the public (an issue of some relevance here in Albuquerque), the use of such war machines also can’t be helpful. Where are New Mexico’s 42 MRAP’s? I don’t know for sure. There appears to be one in Hobbs and it looks like Clovis has one, but we’d be interested to know where they all are. Drop us a line in the comments section. Please provide a news link or some evidence if possible.
There’s this fun toy that Farmington got…just had to pay the shipping!
http://www.daily-times.com/four_corners-news/ci_24678616/farmington-police-department-buys-armored-military-fighting-vehicle
So they got the vehicles free, but what will the fuel and maintenance costs do to municipal budgets?
Alamogordo proudly displays one. Obtained for shipping. Interesting to learn what the upkeep costs will be.
Who cares about upkeep on these vehicles, we know they will be expensive. Civil authority has no use for these monsters. What are these people think their doing. They are working for the vary people that this war machine will be used against. According to the FBI violent crime has been cut in half since 2000. So, now we need to militarize our peace forces. What’s up with that?
Who cares about upkeep on these vehicles, we know they will be expensive. Civil authority has no use for these monsters. What do these people think their doing. They work for the vary people that this war machine will be used against. According to the FBI violent crime has been cut in half since 2000. So, now we need to militarize our peace forces. What’s up with that?