The Lenco BearCat: Heroic or Hysterical?

   One of the most commonly discussed problems right now is the militarization of police departments across the. U.S.. It's a huge problem, and is resulting in incidents like unnecessary police shootings across the county. One of the reasons police departments are getting things like armored trucks and assault rifles is because a lot of these resources are left over from military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and are being reused by the government.

     A fairly common vehicle that is being donated to local police departments is the Lenco BearCat, a 17,000-pound armored assault vehicle that can withstand shots from an AK-47. This 8.5-ton trucks used by many police departments countrywide, and has been used in a multitude of attacks since it's debut in 1999. Some features include a ridiculous roof-mounted machine-gun hatch, side gun ports, and a CS (tear gas) deployment nozzle. I find this vehicle to be one of the worst ways to spend out tax dollars, and it seems like a complete waste to spend $250,000 on a truck that a police department will probably never use. It's insane that this is what is being given to local police departments, along with assault rifles and riot shields. The idea that a police force needs a truck like this is completely, absolutely, 100% absurd. 

Click here to learn more about the 2015 Lenco BearCat

Here's the BearCat in action at the Boston Marathon