Posted on 09/29/2005 5:20:36 AM PDT by School of Rational Thought
Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings said Wednesday that she is justified in asking for a new $743,000 urban assault vehicle to replace an old, broken-down one -- even at a time when the department and city are in tough financial straits.
To do otherwise, she said, could put her officers at risk.
The Detroit City Council put the purchase request on hold Wednesday, a day after Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick went before the council saying drastic layoffs of municipal employees could be needed if unions don't accept concessions. Bully-Cummings accused the council of playing politics with her request.
It also represents a disturbing trend throughout the country - that is that police officer safety comes first, citizen safety comes later.
New Orleans is another recent example.
Last time I checked, homeland security had grants for purchases like these...
Yep, one vehicle for a city the size of Detroit shouldn't be a problem.
With our tax money
this vehicle is to keep under contol..the "disenfranchised"..LOL...either you are..or you aren't......I wonder what Jesse will say about this..
We had one in DC once. It sat around till the battery went dead. It was a boondoggle of the highest order. Located at a secret location,not much of a secert all the neighbors had to do was look out the back door , It was mostly just in the way . I think it was used twice in 4 years.
American Samoa's local head of homeland security bought himself one of those fancy hi-tech command center SUV's.
He probably still doesn't know what most of the electronics in that vehicle do.
Last time I was home I heard he wanted to use department funds to buy a boat to patrol the waters around the island. No doubt the intent is to patrol all the great fishing.
Cops are at risk without napalm runs.
You beat me to it. Did anyone else think of stripes when you read "Urban Assault Vehicle".
"Dats da fact, Jack!"
First thing that came to my mind.
OMG! My small rural county's sheriff's department actually has one of those! They roll it out at the county fair every year, and it truly is an eyesore. I didn't know it was inspired by "Stripes". LOL
Well, we all know that the police cannot be everywhere, everytime. IMHO...I'd give them the benefit of the doubt...give them the tools they need to do their job. In the case of Detriot, a fleet of assult vehicles is probably appropriate. As for citizen safety...that starts a with the level of intrusiveness (or absense thereof) on our right to bear arms. I'd rather be able to defend myself than wait for the cops to show up and find me dead. Most sane people would agree with me.
Most likely what your Sheriff's Office has is a command center. I have never seen an armored urban assault vehicle motor home except in the movie stripes. Our command vehicle is a step van/bread truck style vehicle. Functional but not expensive. Other area agencies have motor homes. Two major factors: Generator and air conditioning are absolutely critical in maintaining a command/communication post. Almost all motor homes come with the above.
Almost all police departments with armored vehicles utilize military surplus. I believe south african military released a large number of them about 10 years ago to the american market.
An apt point about the generator and air conditioning... living in GA. Well, perhaps I should be pleased that they still use the behemoth instead of mothballing it. Thanks for the info.
I too am disturbed greatly by the militarization of all levels of law enforcement. Doesn't seem fit for a free people.
Hell, our two bit cops here in rural Wisconsin have a new "command center" vehicle......purchased exclusively with your tax dollars. Should prove to be invaluable in the event that a terrorist cow gets loose in town, otherwise it just sits at the ministry of justice to impress all of us.
This looks like a big job opportunity for ex-New Orleans Police Chief "Fast Eddie" Compass!
Using the Compass - Nagin pollece math Detroit will soon have over 3000 new cops!
"What kind of training are we doing?!"
"AAARRRMY TRAINING, SIR!"
Lot's of quoables in that movie. For a big urban war zone like Detroit, I can see an APC being useful. I got lost in Detroit one night in Detroit on the way to the airport at about 11:00 p.m. An APC would have been a comfort. For a small town no way, but boys do want to be boys. As another poster stated, the parade piece is probably a mobile command post.
Back to the article, for 750 G's the old one better be broken pretty good. On the other side of the coin, if the old one is so far gone that it's unsalvagable, what's to say that the new one won't meet the same fate in a few years? Is there a problem with maintenance?
The justification seems pretty weak.
We have similar problems here... I just moved out of DeKalb county Georgia but i still follow events there. Apparently the Dekalb County Homeland security department has been spending resources following Vegans as potential terrorists, lacking anyone else to follow suppose.
Apparently they weren't very good at it since when the vegans wrote down the license plate of the car following them the guy got two uniformed officers and demanded they turn over the plate number. When they refused it was taken forcibly and they were arrested.... Way to break cover and get the county sued all at once.
Millions of dollars spent in the county and this is the only thing of note they do besides act as body guards for high ranking county employees.
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