LIBERTY, Mo. — The government is refurbishing used military vehicles, and Tuesday, the Clay County Sheriff`s Office showed off its new armored patrol vehicle.
Kansas City and Independence police have the bear, and now the Clay County Sheriff`s Department has a beast, courtesy of the federal government. 54,000 pounds of steel that used to keep troops safe in Iraq and Afghanistan is now helping keep local law enforcement safe in some of their most dangerous situations.
“There`s nothing that is going to get inside of that vehicle,” said Capt. Matt Hunter, with the Clay County Sheriff`s Department. “It is fully armored and it`s rated at 50 caliber weapons to hit it.”
Its official name is the MRAP or Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle.
“This beast behind us was given to us by the department of defense,” said Hunter.
All it cost the Clay County Sheriff`s Department was the gas to drive it home from Sealy, Texas. And the 54,000 pound armored vehicle gets just four miles a gallon.
Sergeant Steve Copp gave FOX 4’s Shannon O’Brien a ride. The vehicle is hot, loud, goes a maximum of 60 miles per hour and it takes up one entire lane of traffic, stripe to stripe.
“You can imagine 20 hours from Texas, just white knuckling it all the way. When I got done, I just wanted to crawl up into a fetal position and suck my thumb,” said Sgt. Copp.
Getting this MRAP was a labor of love for Sergeant Copp, the sheriff`s department tactical team leader, who spent a year navigating government red tape and paperwork to get this beast.
“It`s exciting. We`ve needed a ballistic protective vehicle for a long time,” said Sgt. Copp.
This is the department`s previous tactical vehicle was a military ambulance.
“Basically a tin can on wheels,” said Capt. Hunter about the previous vehicle. “We`ve had call outs for the tac team and it has actually died on us where it had to be towed away from the scene.”
That won`t happen with the beast, but it does need some remodeling. Seats replaced with benches, wiring for sirens, air conditioning and heat, plus a new paint job, which will be done slowly over time to transform this desert fighting machine.
“It`s not a crime fighting tool, it`s a rescue tool,” said Sgt. Copp about the beast.
Which they say could have been used in a February standoff with an active shooter in Gladstone, which caused the evacuation of a nearby school.
“We have no armored vehicle protection to advance on the house and at some point we need to advance on the house and so this will be well needed,” said Sgt. Copp. “To have this at our beck and call is priceless.”
This MRAP was used overseas but the military will not say when or where, nor how many battles it was in or really anything about its background. But FOX 4’s Shannon O’Brien said thinking about the men and women who were using the MRAP in its first life while riding around in it was a very humbling experience.