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Tanks as toys?

Document Date: March 5, 2013

Police in New Hampshire received federal funds for a counter-attack vehicle, lying to the Department of Homeland Security about the need for terrorism-prevention tools and asking “what red-blooded American cop isn’t going to be excited about getting a toy like this?” Police in Keene, New Hampshire, received a fully funded BearCat, an armored counter-attack vehicle, in 2012. To explain why the police included the word “terrorism” on their application for federal funding for this purchase, a city councilmember said, “Our application talked about the danger of domestic terrorism, but that’s just something you put in the grant application to get the money. What red-blooded American cop isn’t going to be excited about getting a toy like this? That’s what it comes down to.”

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