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Home My WebLink About9-24-14 Jenko-MRAP is leading to some outrage...From:Spencer Jenko To:Agenda Subject:MRAP is leading to some outrage... Date:Wednesday, September 24, 2014 12:59:38 AM Hello, I am writing this letter as a plead for help regarding this MRAP acquisition by the Bozeman PoliceDept. I am outraged at this surfacing story of how the MRAP was acquired, particularly on three items: 1) The vehicle was obtained behind the city council’s back. A “miscommunication” is unacceptable whenyou are in a public officials’ position. You have real power and you are charged with being responsibleand in using it. By keeping such a purchase hidden from public eye, there is the possibility that this wasa deliberate act. Perhaps they knew of the public backlash, and hoped to have it leak out late enoughthat the public reaction would be muted? It’s only a suggestion, but that kind of behavior is intolerablewhen you are dealing with the militarization of domestic police. 2) It is not a necessary item. The gallatin police state that they need it, but they themselves haveclaimed only 4 incidents where a gun was fired at police officers IN THE LAST 4 YEARS. Whenconsidering the average number of guns in a Montana household, the issue doesn’t appear to be “gun-toting cowboys”. What about the number of drunk driving fatalities; how will the MRAP be practical inthis forefront issue? 3) It is expensive. That $250,000 was magically pulled out of thin air. That is taxpayer dollars paying forthat vehicle. The Bozeman police didn’t pay shit for the item, so they rightfully have no say in whetherthe item stays or not. Hell they are even lucky that they got to get it here in the first place without priorapproval. That speaks ill of the police department. I urge the city council to please vote in favor of ridding Bozeman of the MRAP. The means of acquiringthis armored vehicle were shady, and the purchase itself was completely kept from the public. It’scontinued presence here in Bozeman will consist of either sitting in the parking lot rusting, or generatingpublic backlash any time that thing is started up on taxpayer-paid gasoline. That money could havebeen spent on a dozen of Ford-issued police trucks, or something else more useful than this eyesore ismeant to be. Please rid the Gallatin county of this MRAP vehicle. The public is speaking out about this issue; it wouldbode ill to ignore it. Regards, A concerned citizen of Bozeman, MT.