MRAP

Small Town Receives Free MRAP Military Vehicle

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On October 4th 2013, the Clovis News Journal published a story briefly over viewing the city’s commissioners meeting minutes from the previous night. The article stated the Clovis Police Department was to receive a free “armored SWAT vehicle”. The article goes on to describe this vehicle as a “decommissioned military vehicle that was used overseas” and its purpose is for “hostage situations, high risk warrant situations, and for during natural disasters”.

Clovis, New Mexico is located on the eastern part of the state, a few miles from the Texas border, and hosts a population of just over 37,000. Simple, rural and agricultural, the small town made national headlines earlier this week with its tumbleweed invasion of 2014.

The CNJ article did not go into additional details about the vehicle and the Clovis Police Department website has no mention of receiving the truck. However, details uncovered about the transfer may cause some to raise an eyebrow.

According to Action Item 1758, the City is going to receive a Caiman 6X6 MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) truck from the New Mexico State Police Defense Logistics Agency. The trucks were originally designed to counteract IED attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq. According to the Action Item, the truck “is valued at $625,000″ and would be used for “violent barricaded subjects, high risk felony warrants, rescue and recovery of injured persons or officers during a mobile active shooting event and other non-typical events”.

MRAP
Photo of an MRAP attached to Action Item 1758

Clovis can be added to the growing list of small police departments and sheriff’s offices that are receiving no-cost MRAPs. These acquisitions have lead to nation wide criticism and a 26 state public records requests by the ACLU. According to Reason and EndTheLie.com, the vehicles are part of “the Department of Defense’s obscure “1033 program” which has given away almost $500 million in leftover military equipment to law enforcement in the fiscal year of 2011.” Reason.com goes on to state “After 9/11 the Department of Homeland Security began offering terrorism-fighting grants to domestic police departments” in addition to the 1033 program.

In a story written by a contributor to AboveTopSecret.com, a list was compiled of other small units receiving vehicles through the program:

and the list goes on and on.

According to the Washington Post, The ACLU is so concerned with this program that they call it an “increasing militarization of the nation’s police”. Kara Dansky, Senior Counsel for the ACLU has stated “One of our concerns with this is it has a tendency to escalate violence.”
The incremental and increasing militarization of police was evident in the aftermath of the Boston Bombing in April of last year. Boston and the suburban area of Watertown were in a state of Martial Law while police searched for suspects in the attack. Police resembling soldiers performed house to house inspections while being escorted by armored personnel carriers and Humvees.
Militarized Police in Watertown
Militarized Police in Watertown
These revelations combined with others, such as whistle blower Edward Snowden’s NSA releases, raise questions about America’s security apparatus. As a country, we must decide where to draw the line on safety vs. freedom.
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