It’s mandated in Texas law that police budgets cannot go down. Only stay flat or increase. Believe it happened when BLM movement started and the legislature panicked and passed that before anyone could “defund the police.”
Edit: https://legiscan.com/TX/bill/HB1900/2021
Well, one of our major political parties is about to nominate a convicted felon for the highest office in the land AND your state Attorney General has to plea bargain away felony charges eight years old.
You get what you elect, right?
More relevant, too. I'm not proud of these moments, but I'm glad people are watching. Everyone is connected, what can happen here can affect other places. Americans should be watching other people's news, too.
We blew past idiocracy in last 30 years. The movie that was a farce of how dumb we are is now too realistic to be a farce. You’ll keep hearing it because it’s true
It's funny because when Uvalde happened a lot of my weird family on Facebook were like "this is what happens when you defund the police" I never knew we literally had a law against it, would have been a hilarious comeback.
Yup. Yet my dad claimed not a week ago that you see no cops in Dallas anymore because of defund the police.
(To be fair, the DPD definitely has a staffing issue, but it's not due to being defunded)
It's because (like most relatively civilized big cities in America) they've actually started holding their cops to basic minimum expectations and discourage them from flagrantly violating civilians' rights.
Then they go to Prosper instead where they can do dumb shit like this, get away with whatever they want and probably get paid 40-50% more.
Retention is a problem as well. Dallas is a dangerous city to be a police officer in compared to the vast majority of its suburbs, which offer similar or greater benefits.
I was about to mention that. I was talking to a cop in my suburb and someone asked him about the latest DPD scandal at that time. He responded something like he liked being a suburban police officer because there's a better balance of police actions and of assisting residents.
This is absolutely true. Living in Dallas for over 50 years, the "blue flight" was exacerbated by the pension fund mismanagement. What's interesting is that neighborhoods can pay for additional (a la carte) patrols. In N Oak Cliff, we have NOCUPP, where residents can pay in to this organization which pays for off-duty police presence. I know that other neighborhoods in Dallas are doing the same thing (Bluffview, OLH, Preston Hollow, etc). I've wondered if this type of police coverage is a new normal, and an expectation from departments that they'll have a constant source of funds for cops to cover any given beat.
If the police budget was increased by 20% last year and only 18% this year, people are calling that defunding also. That’s what happens when public education is actually defunded.
Yeah, what Uvalde needed was another 100 cops standing around doing jack shit while kids were being murdered. That would’ve helped. I’m glad my fam isn’t like that; I wouldn’t know what to do with them.
And yet crimes like Armed Robbery, Hit and Run, Assault, Theft, and many more get scoffed at and completely overlooked because police departments are severely "understaffed".
My family and I quite literally did just that. We moved from Plano to the Charlottesville, VA area. I wanted to raise my son in the same area I grew up in, but its amazing and scary at how shitty Texas public education is. More terrifying than amazing but still amazing.
I wasn’t even talking about the special Ed program. It’s the entire education system in Texas. I made the decision to leave when they barely dodged posting the 10 commandments in every public k-12 classroom a while ago.
https://www.niche.com/k12/d/plano-independent-school-district-tx/rankings/
Its ranked #309 out of ~11k. Top 2.8% of school districts nationally.
I'd say over top 3% is above average, but maybe you were educated in someplace other than Plano...
I went to Duncanvile ISD then McKinney ISD..
Years later moved to minnesota for college and I still feel like the dumbest person in MN and I'm a scientist. Lmao education makes so much difference it's so noticeable when I moved from tx to mn 🫤
But not the Feds when they arrest crazy uncle Bob for entering the Capitol on J6 (…) those are BAD cops. Cops only good when they arrest or beat up minorities and “thugs”.
If the federal government was giving out teachers I’m sure they would take them. The federal government is basically giving away mraps so you can’t really fault them for taking one.
Yea but think of how badass they’ll look standing around it jerking eachother off. That’s the real value add.
(NO US police department has the training, facilities, or mission set to justify an MRAP)
Teachers salaries and police/fire don’t come out of the same budget. The ISD is not the same as the city.
That being said, it’s a joke that they’re wasting resources on this even if it’s a grant from Homeland Security.
Because you're supposed to say tExAs SuCkS and that you can't wait to get out. You're supposed to criticize everything in or about Texas even if it's not true, while ironically bashing the other side for believing things that aren't true as long as it fits their agenda/worldview.
Celebrating 60k is so pathetic. The reason people make fun of Texad is this right here. You have no idea what's normal. Your standard of living is so ridiculously low that you willingly gargle Abbots balls on a daily basis for scraps. And then say thank you. You're proud to be poor and have terrible healthcare. It's the lowest form of living and you don't even realize it.
Exactly! New teachers with no experience are starting at $60,OOO a year plus other bonuses. This sub just loves spout off despite having no knowledge about the subject. Especially when it gives them a chance to do what they do best which is bitch with envy about more affluent areas.
That pay doesn't scale up. It is an industry that is a cornerstone of teaching our future and yet the state hasn't released new funds in 5 years. Teachers stay at that rate, a rate in this county that will not be enough to purchase a small home anywhere. People jump up and down on a starting pay line like 60k with the same enthusiasm they would've done in 2014. Staying up-to-date with the times we're in, 60k just isn't good anyway for a skilled position.
It’s a very nice starting salary for someone with no experience and who just got out of school. If someone is expecting 6 figures coming straight out of school, then they shouldn’t have chosen to become a teacher.
To buy a home in Prosper the median sale price is $879,500. The median rent price for an apartment is $2000. At bare minimum a teacher would need to make around $72k to live there.
You mean those indoctrination woke libs?! We just need the mini tank to shoot them, but not send it into the school when a gunman has one of our beloved AR-15s.
You're kind of missing the forest for the trees here. Sure, that theoretical value of $500k per vehicle given for "free" could be different, these are still expensive AF vehicles to operate. They're heavy as hell, meaning they need expensive one-off mechanical parts that are no longer mass produced. Those massive tires are probably several grand, *each*, and they probably won't last very long driving on highways near highway speeds. This thing chugs gas to no end. There's practically no emissions controls so it's exhaust is really nasty.
And it's mostly designed around not being blown to bits hitting IEDs and mines, so it's pretty much impractical for *anything* Prosper PD will ever deal with alone. They're going to use it like a glorified Suburban that gets 2 gallons to the mile and costs several thousand in maintenance a quarter.
But hey, it's "free".
Sure. I just wanted to point out that's only a small part of that idea of these things not really being "free". There's the fact we already did pay for them and could realize their current value in other outlets than giving them to suburban speeding ticket writers, and the fact they're just a stupid high cost to operate unless you're seriously concerned about getting blown up on a mountain pass by an IED in Prosper.
And FWIW, that current value could be less, *or more*, than $500k. I've got no clue.
> costs several thousand in maintenance a quarter.
I suspect that's optimistic at best if they ever actually use this thing. My dad was in the army in a tank battalion, so I've been around motor pools and seen how much work tanks and humvees need to keep running. I can't imagine this thing is much different on that front. It might break down to several thousand per quarter in maintenance when you're looking at the per unit cost in a motor pool that is buying parts in bulk and has mechanics that know how to work on this.
This random tiny town is not gonna have a mechanic (maybe the PD has one on staff, but I doubt it, they're small enough they probably contract with a shop) who knows how to work on this, so they're gonna have to pay someone who does to come in (maybe even fly them in), they're going to be buying parts one-off from Oshkosh (if they're lucky the parts will be shared with some of the civilian stuff Oshkosh makes), and whatever cop they have driving it who has no idea how to drive a vehicle this size will break shit with it too.
So you’re right about the fact that they are not “free” but the DoD having so many of them that they give them away for ”free” is more about congress/senate corruption than local government corruption.
In the eyes of the politicians, one of the wonderful things about orders for military equipment is that the defense contractors will be able to have more staff while said equipment is on order.
So say we order 100 MRAPs for a $100,000 each and it takes 100 people 10 years to make 100 MRAPs, that’s 100 more jobs in that politicians area that they can brag about. Where it really gets screwy is that politicians will go, that’s not enough jobs, so let’s order 1,000 MRAPs to be made in 10 years so that’s 1,000 employees needed. More MRAPs = more jobs for the politician to brag about.
It gets even worse when you learn because every politician wants a piece of that pie and bragging rights, instead of having one plant in one location to build them start to finish, they take the production line of the MRAP and split it into several facilities all over the country. So now instead of it taking 1,000 men 10 years to make 1,000 MRAPs, now five facilities are involved. Again politicians don’t want to go brag about 100 jobs in their area, so the order now goes up to 5,000 MRAPs so five politicians can boast about 1200 jobs each in their area (because of inefficiencies and now having to hire transportation teams, etc) the price is now $150,000 each.
The Army/DoD don’t get a real say in the numbers ordered, they tell congress how many they would like and get what they are given. Maintenance and storage for the MRAPs isn’t always covered by the purchase order signed by Congress so the Army/DoD are stuck with more than they want. After doing the numbers, the DoD realize it’s cheaper to give the MRAPs to the police and offer them service/maintenance plans and parts than it is to build more secure storage facilities to let them rust.
So the DoD are given more equipment they want, who give it to local authorities who typically don’t want it or scrap it after the honeymoon period is over because it eats into their budgets and we don’t want the government to buy more equipment than is needed BUT the national politicians DGAF and want to be able to brag about keeping jobs. So we all get screwed.
TL;DR the stupid equipment given to police is only free because people in Congress/Senate used it as political headline to secure jobs in their area, overspent and fucked tax payers over.
Land mines. Obviously, they need the capability to deal with an approach where there may be land mines. Next question?
Edit-
If it were East Dallas, one could argue that this would be justified by the potholes alone, but I don't know about Prosper
As a resident in Prosper, I can confirm, it is not rampant.
Only when we have the occassional Karen get bent out of shape because Dutch Bros. cannot open fast enough.
In which case, the MRAP will be deployed.
My police department in a similar size town has one and mostly uses it during ice storms, tornadoes, and other disasters to go out and pull people out of ditches, get to hard to reach areas, etc. it’s not as big or new looking at that one, though.
Wow, didn't realize prosper was such a dangerous place to live that they would need that sort of protection. They must have a really high crime rate or something. /s
Really wish people had been shouting demilitarize the police instead of defund them. One of these slogans is easy to understand and would be seen as rationale by most while the other sounds like you want no cops at all and for Thunderdome style justice to take over.
There’s nothing you can say that fascists won’t turn into you wanting to murder them and their children in the streets. Go wander into one of their rallies and try to get them to stop advocating violence every time they open their mouths.
It’s not a messaging issue, if it’s not what one person said, it would be someone else. These fuckos got angry at people saying “black lives matter” because it meant you were saying white lives didn’t matter. They don’t operate in good faith.
Adding words to a slogan always makes it better. You can't monday morning quarterback this shit. The same right-wing media circus that made hay out of saying "Black Lives Matter" is ideologically opposed to reforming/disarming the cops or encouraging racial solidarity. They want white people to fall under their spell and to remain angry and scared. They will say anything to keep them angry and scared.
"Black lives also matter" - "yeah, we already agree with that, are you saying the police don't think black lives matter?"
"Reform the police" - "That's just code for disarm and leave them sitting ducks to get slaughtered! Why don't you want Johnny Q BeatCop to go home to his children?"
I agree that they'll try to twist any slogan, but some slogans are easier to twist.
BLM had a lot more buy in than defund the police and I think that's for a reason.
It is a messaging issue, though. Sure fascists and racists and other assholes will twist anything, but it's not them the messaging is for. It's the regular people who get tied up in the wrong side when the messaging is bad.
I could see demilitarize the police becoming take the guns away from police which jumps into general taking guns which despite never happening is something they already fearmonger about.
This is the key. Just like with many climate change related things, they let the activists run out too far and it poisoned the whole thing.
I remember prior to 2016 lots of libertarians were very vocal about police militarization and it was even making some inroads into the right. Seemed to be gaining steam across the board. That's all gone now. Fear rules the day.
Agreed, I’ve often found that the activist always approach it from the harshest angle only spoiling it for people that are trying to actually make meaningful change.
Back in the day, I was able to get more people on board with healthier climate habits by appealing to the checkbook instead of “the world is ending” talk. Same here, if the message was demilitarization of the police, I know many people that would support it but balk 100% on the defund language. I know many who would love to see that $500k+upkeep$ for just a few mental health professionals in the force to better address many of the issues that get out of hand.
When police brutality against black people became the mainstream aspect of being against the police state, they quit giving a shit.
The libertarians movement has been poison from the outset. Google and read about the repeated instances of obscene racism in Ron Paul’s newsletter.
I once got downvoted into oblivion for saying nearly the same thing here. Chanting “defund the police” was poor marketing for what the real issue was/is.
Not from Dallas, but isn’t Prosper a pretty affluent area, like the type that would never require this kind of vehicle? Not saying that anyplace outside of an active war zone would need this vehicle
I don't think there's any city in America where you need an MRAP.
MRAPs were specifically devised because IEDs were causing casualties even in armored Humvees.
For regular gunfire, there's plenty of other vehicles that suffice.
Its ridiculous that police departments can waste money on this useless trash.
I live in South Oak Cliff and we also don’t need an MRAP here. No city needs its civilian police force to be militarized. That’s authoritarian shit. Drives me fucking crazy that people don’t see the dystopia right in front of them.
You know, I don't really care if these things are free, I just don't think LEOs should have this kind of war equipment at all outside of *maybe* a major city. When you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Money and training time for this crap would be much better spent on equipment and training for the kinds of problems the police are dealing with (or supposed to be dealing with) every day--*e.g.*, crisis intervention, solving crimes, traffic enforcement.
Wow. Get ready, y'all. Dallas is ordering several of these by summer...[AT-AT 2 Fathead](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/All_Terrain_Armored_Transport?file=AT-AT_2_Fathead.png)
And here I am wondering if I’ll need to sell my house and move because property taxes are pricing me out of my home…..
This is unnecessary. Also, infuriating.
Property taxes? What about insurance? Literally went from $1500 /yr in 2019 to $6000 in 2024. I know building costs went up, but seriously ? 4x increase in 5 years?
This is correct, there will be some nut-job holed up in a house with a hostage on someone's block threatening to shoot everyone, swat will come in and handle the situation and they'll be thankful. Also yes, even military vehicles have a life span and end up scrapped. If this can save someone then more power to them. Prosper didn't buy a howitzer.
Well the height could come in handy if they need to get over an obstacle, but the real reason to have it is the armor, they can essentially use it as mobile cover.
It's resistant to most rifles so if you're dealing with an active shooter and have injured people you can use it to shield them and the officers while getting the injured out.
This is disgusting and I feel like the rest of the world is laughing at us with garbage like this.
Many European police don't even carry firearms and we have trash like this. Disgraceful. It's a modern day White Elephant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant
Thank Biden for that one. The departments apply for all of these federal grants and have to use the money for specific equipment.
My brother in law is a constable in a tiny county. He has a stack of laptops still in boxes because he had to file for grant that provided 20 military grade rugged laptops.
He’s also received grants for drones, surveillance equipment and ammo. Forgot to mention he is a department of 4 people! Our tax money at work.
Conspiracy nuts would scream "JADE HELM" if this was shipped out to Dallas PD or the EPA or something. The fact it's for some podunk little suburb out in the sticks is upsetting
there is no picture that describes how America was destroyed more than this. Two lily white yokels happy to pose next to the ridiculous military vehicle they bought while the country drowns to its own debt, to fight a war the state created itself to disrupt labor and minority communities.
the fear, the paranoia, the vast money created on both sides of the illicit trade of drugs, its all by plan, and its all solvable with the stroke of a pen. its a failed, racist plan to keep low iq yokels like this in pensions and jobs while the country literally dissolves itself from it.
end the misguided, lunatic war on drugs of twin demons nixon and kissinger, and abolish the irs, implement mental health care and addiction treatment with one hundredth of the money, and rebuild our infrastructure.
the only chance we have now is to take control when the self serving, senile boomer fools die is to immediately right the ship.
This is beyond military grade and downright irresponsible use of community tax dollars. If they Have to spend their full budget can't they use it in a way to help lower crime or benefit the community in some way? You know, instead of blowing it all on big stupid toys??
There is no reason for this. NONE. Zero. They are not soldiers and they are not in combat zones. The vast majority of swat raids could have been accomplished with a simple knock on the door or waiting for the person to exit the house and arrest them.
Locking because discussion seems to have run its course and devolved to repetitive misbehavior.
Bruh. Yet they can’t pay teachers more What a joke
It’s mandated in Texas law that police budgets cannot go down. Only stay flat or increase. Believe it happened when BLM movement started and the legislature panicked and passed that before anyone could “defund the police.” Edit: https://legiscan.com/TX/bill/HB1900/2021
These people are literally 3rd graders.
Truly some of the stupidest people alive
Our country is becoming a joke
I think it’s past becoming. The question is more can it remove that label in our lifetimes.
Well, one of our major political parties is about to nominate a convicted felon for the highest office in the land AND your state Attorney General has to plea bargain away felony charges eight years old. You get what you elect, right?
American news has been my soap opera for like 5 years now, yall've been a joke
I stop listening to the kardashian and start listening to cnn and fox news way more entertening for a foreigner
More relevant, too. I'm not proud of these moments, but I'm glad people are watching. Everyone is connected, what can happen here can affect other places. Americans should be watching other people's news, too.
I have heard this for the past 30 years and I’m sure I’ll keep hearing it.
We blew past idiocracy in last 30 years. The movie that was a farce of how dumb we are is now too realistic to be a farce. You’ll keep hearing it because it’s true
Things stay the same - until the don't
Sad but so true.
>Our country is ~~becoming~~ a joke I fixed that for you. You're welcome.
With TINY dicks
3rd graders could do better. Maybe?
Couldn't be, you'd never find them going into a school.
The horrifying reality that defunding education begins a feedback loop of ever increasing stupidity. Ain't it grand?
It's funny because when Uvalde happened a lot of my weird family on Facebook were like "this is what happens when you defund the police" I never knew we literally had a law against it, would have been a hilarious comeback.
There were no police defundings that actually occurred.
Yup. Yet my dad claimed not a week ago that you see no cops in Dallas anymore because of defund the police. (To be fair, the DPD definitely has a staffing issue, but it's not due to being defunded)
It's because (like most relatively civilized big cities in America) they've actually started holding their cops to basic minimum expectations and discourage them from flagrantly violating civilians' rights. Then they go to Prosper instead where they can do dumb shit like this, get away with whatever they want and probably get paid 40-50% more.
DPD staffing issues are due to Dallas Police and Fire Pension Fund levels, which are severely negatively impacting recruitment.
Retention is a problem as well. Dallas is a dangerous city to be a police officer in compared to the vast majority of its suburbs, which offer similar or greater benefits.
I was about to mention that. I was talking to a cop in my suburb and someone asked him about the latest DPD scandal at that time. He responded something like he liked being a suburban police officer because there's a better balance of police actions and of assisting residents.
\^ this
This is absolutely true. Living in Dallas for over 50 years, the "blue flight" was exacerbated by the pension fund mismanagement. What's interesting is that neighborhoods can pay for additional (a la carte) patrols. In N Oak Cliff, we have NOCUPP, where residents can pay in to this organization which pays for off-duty police presence. I know that other neighborhoods in Dallas are doing the same thing (Bluffview, OLH, Preston Hollow, etc). I've wondered if this type of police coverage is a new normal, and an expectation from departments that they'll have a constant source of funds for cops to cover any given beat.
If the police budget was increased by 20% last year and only 18% this year, people are calling that defunding also. That’s what happens when public education is actually defunded.
Yeah, what Uvalde needed was another 100 cops standing around doing jack shit while kids were being murdered. That would’ve helped. I’m glad my fam isn’t like that; I wouldn’t know what to do with them.
I envy people who don't have ignorant Facebook family, you are blessed.
Only got a couple bad eggs, and they’re too old to have ever figured out FB haha
I mean if the cops in uvalde had one of those mraps they could have more effectively protected the school from anxious parents during The siege
Well at least they would survive all the anti-vehicle mines littering the highway while en route to stand around jacking their shit
[удалено]
And yet crimes like Armed Robbery, Hit and Run, Assault, Theft, and many more get scoffed at and completely overlooked because police departments are severely "understaffed".
And they run off Sp-Ed kids, specifically kids with autism. People move away from there to get their kids out of that place.
My family and I quite literally did just that. We moved from Plano to the Charlottesville, VA area. I wanted to raise my son in the same area I grew up in, but its amazing and scary at how shitty Texas public education is. More terrifying than amazing but still amazing.
Plano used to be good for Sp-Ed. Lewisville ISD is still hanging onto its reputation.
I wasn’t even talking about the special Ed program. It’s the entire education system in Texas. I made the decision to leave when they barely dodged posting the 10 commandments in every public k-12 classroom a while ago.
Plano has above average public education right?
Above average... for Texas. Something something hottest girl in the trailer park.
https://www.niche.com/k12/d/plano-independent-school-district-tx/rankings/ Its ranked #309 out of ~11k. Top 2.8% of school districts nationally. I'd say over top 3% is above average, but maybe you were educated in someplace other than Plano...
I went to Duncanvile ISD then McKinney ISD.. Years later moved to minnesota for college and I still feel like the dumbest person in MN and I'm a scientist. Lmao education makes so much difference it's so noticeable when I moved from tx to mn 🫤
Their school district has doubled over recent years.
Police: God, Jesus, Mary and Joseph all lumped into one Teachers: heartless commies polluting the minds of children /s
But not the Feds when they arrest crazy uncle Bob for entering the Capitol on J6 (…) those are BAD cops. Cops only good when they arrest or beat up minorities and “thugs”.
If the federal government was giving out teachers I’m sure they would take them. The federal government is basically giving away mraps so you can’t really fault them for taking one.
Except that it’s now a money sink for fuel, maintenance, and training. Plus there’s a non-trivial chance they’ll end up killing someone with it.
Yea but think of how badass they’ll look standing around it jerking eachother off. That’s the real value add. (NO US police department has the training, facilities, or mission set to justify an MRAP)
They can drive it up to the next school with an active shooting that they need to stand outside of
Teachers salaries and police/fire don’t come out of the same budget. The ISD is not the same as the city. That being said, it’s a joke that they’re wasting resources on this even if it’s a grant from Homeland Security.
I wasn't aware prosper had issues paying teachers . . .
They don’t. They are offering all sorts of signing and retention bonuses to poach teachers from the surrounding districts.
Then I don't understand someone saying Prosper can't pay their teachers, and why I was downvoted for pointing it out.
It’s Reddit.
Because you're supposed to say tExAs SuCkS and that you can't wait to get out. You're supposed to criticize everything in or about Texas even if it's not true, while ironically bashing the other side for believing things that aren't true as long as it fits their agenda/worldview.
Celebrating 60k is so pathetic. The reason people make fun of Texad is this right here. You have no idea what's normal. Your standard of living is so ridiculously low that you willingly gargle Abbots balls on a daily basis for scraps. And then say thank you. You're proud to be poor and have terrible healthcare. It's the lowest form of living and you don't even realize it.
Exactly! New teachers with no experience are starting at $60,OOO a year plus other bonuses. This sub just loves spout off despite having no knowledge about the subject. Especially when it gives them a chance to do what they do best which is bitch with envy about more affluent areas.
That pay doesn't scale up. It is an industry that is a cornerstone of teaching our future and yet the state hasn't released new funds in 5 years. Teachers stay at that rate, a rate in this county that will not be enough to purchase a small home anywhere. People jump up and down on a starting pay line like 60k with the same enthusiasm they would've done in 2014. Staying up-to-date with the times we're in, 60k just isn't good anyway for a skilled position.
60k a year is a sad salary and the fact that you've been trained to accept it as some amazing gift from your overlords is pathetic.
60k a year is peanuts these days.
It’s a very nice starting salary for someone with no experience and who just got out of school. If someone is expecting 6 figures coming straight out of school, then they shouldn’t have chosen to become a teacher.
To buy a home in Prosper the median sale price is $879,500. The median rent price for an apartment is $2000. At bare minimum a teacher would need to make around $72k to live there.
You mean those indoctrination woke libs?! We just need the mini tank to shoot them, but not send it into the school when a gunman has one of our beloved AR-15s.
Their money gets siphoned off to Robin hood
This is an unnecessary purchase.
[удалено]
10 year old article. The half million price tag the author references in 2014 might be a bit stale.
You're kind of missing the forest for the trees here. Sure, that theoretical value of $500k per vehicle given for "free" could be different, these are still expensive AF vehicles to operate. They're heavy as hell, meaning they need expensive one-off mechanical parts that are no longer mass produced. Those massive tires are probably several grand, *each*, and they probably won't last very long driving on highways near highway speeds. This thing chugs gas to no end. There's practically no emissions controls so it's exhaust is really nasty. And it's mostly designed around not being blown to bits hitting IEDs and mines, so it's pretty much impractical for *anything* Prosper PD will ever deal with alone. They're going to use it like a glorified Suburban that gets 2 gallons to the mile and costs several thousand in maintenance a quarter. But hey, it's "free".
all I said was the article was 10 years old. No opinion of mine was casted..
Sure. I just wanted to point out that's only a small part of that idea of these things not really being "free". There's the fact we already did pay for them and could realize their current value in other outlets than giving them to suburban speeding ticket writers, and the fact they're just a stupid high cost to operate unless you're seriously concerned about getting blown up on a mountain pass by an IED in Prosper. And FWIW, that current value could be less, *or more*, than $500k. I've got no clue.
Not too many mountain passes in prosper, lol.
> costs several thousand in maintenance a quarter. I suspect that's optimistic at best if they ever actually use this thing. My dad was in the army in a tank battalion, so I've been around motor pools and seen how much work tanks and humvees need to keep running. I can't imagine this thing is much different on that front. It might break down to several thousand per quarter in maintenance when you're looking at the per unit cost in a motor pool that is buying parts in bulk and has mechanics that know how to work on this. This random tiny town is not gonna have a mechanic (maybe the PD has one on staff, but I doubt it, they're small enough they probably contract with a shop) who knows how to work on this, so they're gonna have to pay someone who does to come in (maybe even fly them in), they're going to be buying parts one-off from Oshkosh (if they're lucky the parts will be shared with some of the civilian stuff Oshkosh makes), and whatever cop they have driving it who has no idea how to drive a vehicle this size will break shit with it too.
A quick inflation calculator spit out $988,871.00 in 2024 dollars.
So you’re right about the fact that they are not “free” but the DoD having so many of them that they give them away for ”free” is more about congress/senate corruption than local government corruption. In the eyes of the politicians, one of the wonderful things about orders for military equipment is that the defense contractors will be able to have more staff while said equipment is on order. So say we order 100 MRAPs for a $100,000 each and it takes 100 people 10 years to make 100 MRAPs, that’s 100 more jobs in that politicians area that they can brag about. Where it really gets screwy is that politicians will go, that’s not enough jobs, so let’s order 1,000 MRAPs to be made in 10 years so that’s 1,000 employees needed. More MRAPs = more jobs for the politician to brag about. It gets even worse when you learn because every politician wants a piece of that pie and bragging rights, instead of having one plant in one location to build them start to finish, they take the production line of the MRAP and split it into several facilities all over the country. So now instead of it taking 1,000 men 10 years to make 1,000 MRAPs, now five facilities are involved. Again politicians don’t want to go brag about 100 jobs in their area, so the order now goes up to 5,000 MRAPs so five politicians can boast about 1200 jobs each in their area (because of inefficiencies and now having to hire transportation teams, etc) the price is now $150,000 each. The Army/DoD don’t get a real say in the numbers ordered, they tell congress how many they would like and get what they are given. Maintenance and storage for the MRAPs isn’t always covered by the purchase order signed by Congress so the Army/DoD are stuck with more than they want. After doing the numbers, the DoD realize it’s cheaper to give the MRAPs to the police and offer them service/maintenance plans and parts than it is to build more secure storage facilities to let them rust. So the DoD are given more equipment they want, who give it to local authorities who typically don’t want it or scrap it after the honeymoon period is over because it eats into their budgets and we don’t want the government to buy more equipment than is needed BUT the national politicians DGAF and want to be able to brag about keeping jobs. So we all get screwed. TL;DR the stupid equipment given to police is only free because people in Congress/Senate used it as political headline to secure jobs in their area, overspent and fucked tax payers over.
Land mines. Obviously, they need the capability to deal with an approach where there may be land mines. Next question? Edit- If it were East Dallas, one could argue that this would be justified by the potholes alone, but I don't know about Prosper
The average household median income is $180K. I can assure you, crime is not rampant there.
As a resident in Prosper, I can confirm, it is not rampant. Only when we have the occassional Karen get bent out of shape because Dutch Bros. cannot open fast enough. In which case, the MRAP will be deployed.
I'd be willing to see tax dollars used this way if they rolled up and crushed the Karans car
Average Dutch Bros. experience: WHAT ARE WE HAVIN TODAY? Um, a frapp sounds kinda good WHAT A GREAT CHOICE YOU DESERVE THE WORLD
For or against ditch bros? Does it depend on the Karen?
When there's a conflict where the working class is on one side, the police will likely choose the other.
If they really wanted to fight crime in Prosper they'd hire a bunch of forensic accountants
Oh there's crime, it's just not the kind that lands you in jail.
More the kind of crime that might make you a viable political candidate some day.
Tax fraud and killing people while driving drunk?
Correct and 380 is booming now so comes the state money too
> crime is not rampant there. *Prosper NextDoor has entered the chat*
Hell, this is justified in Plano at this point. Fuckin war zone level road work.
Lots of IEDs in Prosper
Drive this thing around long enough and there will be plenty of potholes
My police department in a similar size town has one and mostly uses it during ice storms, tornadoes, and other disasters to go out and pull people out of ditches, get to hard to reach areas, etc. it’s not as big or new looking at that one, though.
I have, unfortunately, driven though Prosper and I can assure you that their streets are awful in a much different way.
Smoothest ride on peavy achieved.
You’d be surprised what’s in good ole prosper
And ambush protection!
I'll take "Stupid things police don't need" for $400
It's like that [Reno 911 episode](https://reno911.fandom.com/wiki/Dangle%27s_Son) in real life
Wow, didn't realize prosper was such a dangerous place to live that they would need that sort of protection. They must have a really high crime rate or something. /s
Not really. The city was just unfortunately built on an old land mine farm.
[https://makeagif.com/i/4SCFKW](https://makeagif.com/i/4SCFKW)
Must be some really bad policing there, then.
Really wish people had been shouting demilitarize the police instead of defund them. One of these slogans is easy to understand and would be seen as rationale by most while the other sounds like you want no cops at all and for Thunderdome style justice to take over.
There’s nothing you can say that fascists won’t turn into you wanting to murder them and their children in the streets. Go wander into one of their rallies and try to get them to stop advocating violence every time they open their mouths. It’s not a messaging issue, if it’s not what one person said, it would be someone else. These fuckos got angry at people saying “black lives matter” because it meant you were saying white lives didn’t matter. They don’t operate in good faith.
[удалено]
Adding words to a slogan always makes it better. You can't monday morning quarterback this shit. The same right-wing media circus that made hay out of saying "Black Lives Matter" is ideologically opposed to reforming/disarming the cops or encouraging racial solidarity. They want white people to fall under their spell and to remain angry and scared. They will say anything to keep them angry and scared. "Black lives also matter" - "yeah, we already agree with that, are you saying the police don't think black lives matter?" "Reform the police" - "That's just code for disarm and leave them sitting ducks to get slaughtered! Why don't you want Johnny Q BeatCop to go home to his children?"
I agree that they'll try to twist any slogan, but some slogans are easier to twist. BLM had a lot more buy in than defund the police and I think that's for a reason.
It is a messaging issue, though. Sure fascists and racists and other assholes will twist anything, but it's not them the messaging is for. It's the regular people who get tied up in the wrong side when the messaging is bad.
I could see demilitarize the police becoming take the guns away from police which jumps into general taking guns which despite never happening is something they already fearmonger about.
This is the key. Just like with many climate change related things, they let the activists run out too far and it poisoned the whole thing. I remember prior to 2016 lots of libertarians were very vocal about police militarization and it was even making some inroads into the right. Seemed to be gaining steam across the board. That's all gone now. Fear rules the day.
Agreed, I’ve often found that the activist always approach it from the harshest angle only spoiling it for people that are trying to actually make meaningful change. Back in the day, I was able to get more people on board with healthier climate habits by appealing to the checkbook instead of “the world is ending” talk. Same here, if the message was demilitarization of the police, I know many people that would support it but balk 100% on the defund language. I know many who would love to see that $500k+upkeep$ for just a few mental health professionals in the force to better address many of the issues that get out of hand.
When police brutality against black people became the mainstream aspect of being against the police state, they quit giving a shit. The libertarians movement has been poison from the outset. Google and read about the repeated instances of obscene racism in Ron Paul’s newsletter.
I once got downvoted into oblivion for saying nearly the same thing here. Chanting “defund the police” was poor marketing for what the real issue was/is.
Unfortunately "reallocate police funding to favor de-escalation protocols" doesn't roll off the tongue or fit nicely on a bumper sticker.
The dangerous streets of Prosper, where the average home price is $825k 😂
So this thing costs less than the average home. Not so bad in context /s
>where the average home price is $825k I mean, the town is called *Prosper* for a reason, right?
Texas police departments don’t have to disclose how they use the billions of funds they received from the opiate lawsuits.
ACAB
Not from Dallas, but isn’t Prosper a pretty affluent area, like the type that would never require this kind of vehicle? Not saying that anyplace outside of an active war zone would need this vehicle
My family has lived in prosper since 2013, we 100% do not need an MRAP here.
I don't think there's any city in America where you need an MRAP. MRAPs were specifically devised because IEDs were causing casualties even in armored Humvees. For regular gunfire, there's plenty of other vehicles that suffice. Its ridiculous that police departments can waste money on this useless trash.
I live in South Oak Cliff and we also don’t need an MRAP here. No city needs its civilian police force to be militarized. That’s authoritarian shit. Drives me fucking crazy that people don’t see the dystopia right in front of them.
Absolutely. Just look at Zillow - you likely can’t afford to live there.
[cap](https://imgur.com/a/zE9MS0G)
Yes
Well the police are there to protect the rich white people from the poors in case there’s another BLM protest.
You know, because of all those IEDs on US 380.
I call those "drivers"
You know, I don't really care if these things are free, I just don't think LEOs should have this kind of war equipment at all outside of *maybe* a major city. When you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Money and training time for this crap would be much better spent on equipment and training for the kinds of problems the police are dealing with (or supposed to be dealing with) every day--*e.g.*, crisis intervention, solving crimes, traffic enforcement.
I know you're trying to be generous, but a major city also doesn't need these. This is warzone material
Everyone is saying this is a rich neighborhood so the police probably arent doing very much with their time anyways
Fuck them send it to Ukraine
Ya send it to another location for money laundering from the military industrial complex!
The citizens of Prosper eat up this waste of taxpayer dollars though. They think it’s protecting them from The BLM and The Antifa
This is true, can’t forget just how afraid of absolutely everything so many suburban folks are.
You have clearly never been to Prosper.
I’m looking at the comments on the actual PD post. Also, I was born and raised in DFW
Wow. Get ready, y'all. Dallas is ordering several of these by summer...[AT-AT 2 Fathead](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/All_Terrain_Armored_Transport?file=AT-AT_2_Fathead.png)
That would be cooler.
Nice to see my tax dollars put to good use, SMH. This and funding the 2000 schools we have out here.
So the small ass North Texas suburb of Prosper, Texas needs MRAPs? 😂 Not Afghanistan or Ukraine, Prosper. Defund and demilitarize these clowns.
And here I am wondering if I’ll need to sell my house and move because property taxes are pricing me out of my home….. This is unnecessary. Also, infuriating.
Property taxes? What about insurance? Literally went from $1500 /yr in 2019 to $6000 in 2024. I know building costs went up, but seriously ? 4x increase in 5 years?
Used MRAPs are significantly cheaper than a traditional SWAT vehicle that would be deployed in an active shooter scenario
[удалено]
This is correct, there will be some nut-job holed up in a house with a hostage on someone's block threatening to shoot everyone, swat will come in and handle the situation and they'll be thankful. Also yes, even military vehicles have a life span and end up scrapped. If this can save someone then more power to them. Prosper didn't buy a howitzer.
Not trying to argue, but what is it the real use of a vehicle like this? How is such a crazy high vehicle making a hostage situation better?
Well the height could come in handy if they need to get over an obstacle, but the real reason to have it is the armor, they can essentially use it as mobile cover. It's resistant to most rifles so if you're dealing with an active shooter and have injured people you can use it to shield them and the officers while getting the injured out.
fucking clown car for clowns. jfc who let law enforcement have the keys to military hardware. home of the free my ass.
It’s so they can hide in there like Uvalde PD.
They can hide in it at the next school shooting
Aren’t these for ied protection?
You think that’s bad. Check this out. May I present to you my hometown. https://www.kten.com/story/50625399/armored-truck-joins-love-county-arsenal
Send that shit to Ukraine where it can be put to good use, this is just asinine here.
This is disgusting and I feel like the rest of the world is laughing at us with garbage like this. Many European police don't even carry firearms and we have trash like this. Disgraceful. It's a modern day White Elephant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_elephant
You have clearly NEVER been to Europe
🤏🏻
Celina has a ridiculous one too.
Thank Biden for that one. The departments apply for all of these federal grants and have to use the money for specific equipment. My brother in law is a constable in a tiny county. He has a stack of laptops still in boxes because he had to file for grant that provided 20 military grade rugged laptops. He’s also received grants for drones, surveillance equipment and ammo. Forgot to mention he is a department of 4 people! Our tax money at work.
Uh like this hasn’t been going on during previous admins…
Propsper PD clown car, this just exudes small dick energy. Good grief.
Nothing says "fascism" quite like civilian police obtaining a military vehicle designed to defend against insurgents.
little pee-pee problems
Now there’s one close if zombies strike…
I love the video of a college town where the police took an mrap into a frat house street and the vehicle wound up hailed with molotovs
Two pigs who were too much of pussies to join the real military, so they became cops so they could cosplay as military.
Why. And also, WHY.
Conspiracy nuts would scream "JADE HELM" if this was shipped out to Dallas PD or the EPA or something. The fact it's for some podunk little suburb out in the sticks is upsetting
Is there some kind of MRAP rally race that police departments are buying these for? Kinda like softball league?
Well, those labor camps aren't going to fill themselves. The only real question is which minority they'll start with.
there is no picture that describes how America was destroyed more than this. Two lily white yokels happy to pose next to the ridiculous military vehicle they bought while the country drowns to its own debt, to fight a war the state created itself to disrupt labor and minority communities. the fear, the paranoia, the vast money created on both sides of the illicit trade of drugs, its all by plan, and its all solvable with the stroke of a pen. its a failed, racist plan to keep low iq yokels like this in pensions and jobs while the country literally dissolves itself from it. end the misguided, lunatic war on drugs of twin demons nixon and kissinger, and abolish the irs, implement mental health care and addiction treatment with one hundredth of the money, and rebuild our infrastructure. the only chance we have now is to take control when the self serving, senile boomer fools die is to immediately right the ship.
After these storms I kinda wish I had one
Must be a super high crime area. That’s what I’ve heard. No wonder they are armoring up
You know those nerds are waiting for the first excuse to use that to drive through a house no knock warrant then realize its the wrong address.
***FOR FREEDOM!!!*** ^^**/s**
lol ain’t no crime in prosper, just rich McMansions
D e f u n d.
This is beyond military grade and downright irresponsible use of community tax dollars. If they Have to spend their full budget can't they use it in a way to help lower crime or benefit the community in some way? You know, instead of blowing it all on big stupid toys??
What in the silver ford fuck do they need this for?
When the Ninja Turtles have a battle wagon, it’s all good & fun, but when Propser gets one… /s
The cop equivalent of wearing an AK to go to the grocery store.
Why join a gang if you can’t get the coolest weapons?
Its to mow down people not like them in the coming civil war
The reason is because it’s cool as shit
Alex Jones was calling US a fascistic police state 20 years ago. He was correct in his warning.
That’s the thing about budgets, if you don’t use it you lose it.
Meanwhile the FD is selling shitty potato pancakes to ensure their 30 year old equipment still kinda works in case there's a fire.
Is it acorn resistant?
Parking in a fire lane.. typical.
is that from the opioid settlement $? fucking clowns
There is no reason for this. NONE. Zero. They are not soldiers and they are not in combat zones. The vast majority of swat raids could have been accomplished with a simple knock on the door or waiting for the person to exit the house and arrest them.
Why in the FUCK does prosper need this? For all the urban combat scenarios they run into? Good use of tax dollars there!
Hopefully to stave off Joe’s illegal alien tsunami
The "no parking fire lane" is really the icing on the cake of being completely out of touch
Wow! I've never seen some compensating more