A: All that military hardware is sooooo expensive!
Elsewhere it is described as resistant to mines and ambush (how exactly?). I'm wondering what situation a university campus is likely to encounter where this vehicle would be superior to, say, a four-wheel drive.
MRAP is not a single vehicle but a class of vehicle[2]. The name kind of says it all: Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected.
My friends were stationed in bases inside Iraq and never really had to do any "off road-ing". They had to convoy between different installations within the country. Typically on poor roads but roads none the less. They worked with the Iraqi Defense Force to transport prisoners, supplies, etc.
This[2] is the kind of stuff that they were scared to death over and why they wanted MRAPs. Apparently Humvees don't take kindly to those sort of explosions or rockets, mines, IEDs, etc.
[1]My buddy and his friends do this with their Tacomas and regularly blow out suspension and drivetrain parts. CVs especially. This is no fault of the Tacoma, they are NOT designed to jump large gaps at speed like a Trophy truck.
[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRAP
(GRAPHIC)[3] http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=02b_1189545597 (GRAPHIC)
Edit:
That said, I have NO idea why they'd want these in a city other than the bling/super Ninja Robocop ego factor. Using the same SWAT vehicles as the local PD seems like a better choice since the support network would already exist.
It still leaves me wondering:
1. Why a university would be expecting vehicle mines or even IEDs on campus; and
2. What value an armoured vehicle responding to that situation would have anyway.
My understanding is that a vehicle mine is pretty useless once you know it is there. This seems like a vehicle designed for regular trips over highly contested or hostile (but reasonably well-maintained) roads.
Since this is likely surplus military equipment from the US draw down in Iraq bought for cheap, perhaps it was a cheap way to get a vehicle for riot control?
Certainly, they aren't expected to drive across IEDs on campus.
Keep in mind, the police forces at large state schools are actual sworn law enforcement officers who carry guns, arrest people, and are responsible for crowd control. OSU is more than 56k people, well past the point where a town would have it's own police force.
Of course, this says nothing about whether any police forces should have this type of equipment.
why a game of that proportions is different? i take it that more than 5 people are guaranteed to show up.
It is totally possible that the next shooter will have full tactical armor and a fully automatic assault rifle with drum magazines. When this happened first responders has to be prepared. They shouldn't have to wait on SWAT while someone is going around shooting others. (This was what happened during the Utøya attack in Norway. The police that first reposted did not have the capability to stop the perpetrator, so they was set to direct traffic instead, while they waited on the national counter-terrorism unit to come to aid them. In the meanwhile Breivik could go around executing children.)
I wouldn't call this a tank, though.
Radley Balko discusses this at some length in "Rise of the Warrior Cop", cited in the article. Fascinating, scary read.
seems that some company developed something for military no-price-limits market that turned out so bad that they started a bargain sale to civilians.
ohio was just the first sucker that had to spend last minute budget to not lose it next year. and knowing how prevalent is this, expect a lot more to pop up.
Spend it† or lose it was my first thought, too.
†And then decide what, if anything, to use it for.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_War
Ohio ended up getting the area around the Ohio/Michigan state line and Michigan got the upper peninsula.
Four dead in Ohio.
I would think that even if their MRAP is free the logistics would make it more expensive that whatever vehicle SWAT is using. I would think that an Armored car (like a bank would se) would also be a good choice if they're just looking for a heavy and protected vehicle.
Realistically, it seems like if the crowd is that ugly, the local PD should be called in. I don't think riot dispersal is really a great responsibility for campus police.
Re the mines: I'm guessing you don't get much of a chance to check for mines, especially on convoy routes. Car bombs at checkpoints (like the video I linked) are probably impossible to detect before someone is in the blast zone.