North Texas residents criticize police over purchase of a ‘tank’

Residents and folks on social media are not happy with a North Texas police department’s armored vehicle, raking the department over the coals after they showed off the equipment on Facebook. The Prosper Police Department posted a photo on June 1 of an “Emergency Rescue Vehicle” with huge wheels that looks like similar to an armored vehicle. 

The post invited locals to come out for coffee and check out the “cool car.” But some residents weren’t happy with the purchase of the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle, asking if the purchase was necessary and calling it an “amazing waste of taxpayer funds.” 

“Why do you need a tank for your podunk s–thole?” one person named Jon Blackman wrote in the comments. 

Not everyone was against the vehicle, with some defending it as a “proactive” purchase for all the “craziness” they see on the news. 

“We should all recognize that any community, even one as awesome as ours, has situations that are extremely dangerous where police and fire rescue need a different kind of vehicle to protect them and citizens,” wrote Jamie Allen. 

Still, Prosper police clearly noticed the criticism because it was acknowledged with a pinned comment explaining that the $689,000 MRAP vehicle didn’t cost the town any money because it was “obtained through the Federal 1033 program.” 

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) program allows the Department of Defense (DoD) to transfer of excess DoD property to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. While local law enforcement doesn’t pay for the property itself, it does pay for shipping and possible storage.

The DLA says that police are also responsible for all costs associated with maintenance and costs to return the property when it isn’t needed.

As stated before, MRAP stands for Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle. They are used mostly by the military for soldiers that travel through combat areas, according to the DoD.

Prosper, which sits north of Plano, has had this MRAP since 2019, according to its followup Facebook comment. The police department wrote in the post that it has shown off the vehicle since then. Police allegedly use the vehicle for high water rescues, active shooter situations, hostage rescues and other critical incidents, according to the post.