Not long ago I saw this vehicle on a flatbed while I was getting my car washed. I don’t know where this particular MRAP was going but my guess it was to a town near you.

Civilian MRAPs are becoming a more common sight across the US these days. Even small towns (under 10,000 residents) are purchasing used MRAPs and other military hardware from the Department of Defense. While some municipalities eschew buying these lumbering, fuel-guzzing behemoths, hundreds of cities are eager to get their hands on an M-ATV (pictured above) or other similar vehicles. It shows that the ongoing trend towards militarizing civilian police departments isn’t slowing down.

Perhaps its time to reconsider this.

Consider what has been happening over the past few years with law enforcement. Raids are more aggressive and the police are more heavily-armed, even when serving warrants for non-violent offenses. While this may be appropriate in a war zone, it doesn’t seem appropriate within the US. I am not the only one disturbed by this development, both from a practical and civil-liberties perspective. Unfortunately in the near-term at least, we are likely to see more civilian MRAPs driving around American towns.

Law enforcement should have the appropriate tools to do their job and sometimes an MRAP could come in handy. However, over-use and over-reliance on military hardware and tactics is harmful to the freedoms we cherish in the US. The resulting breakdown in trust between civilian law enforcement and citizens will lead to more disorder in the coming years.