New Armoured Vehicle in Pickering

[maple_leaf_eh]

A friend of mine is a behind the scenes guy with a shooting association in Ontario. There was a police and law enforcement sniper shooting clinic at a private range. My friend was absolutely floored by the quality and price tags on the average tactical trooper's gear. If nothing is too good for soldiers, if anything too good for the police?

BTW, I'd really prefer that police forces invested in better winter tires and roadside emergency equipment than more black gear.

[rob love]

The cupola impressed me as well. What is their main armament to install in it? Perhaps with the Toronto 18 all out of jail now, the nuke cops are preparing to repel paintball section attacks.

Unbelievable.

[jdmcm]

I'm all for the police having quality equipment...but it has simply gone too far...the only people a vehicle like this is designed to intimidate is the public...when did it shift from community policing to policing the community? I for one am glad to see the US fighting to close the 1033 program, we need to de-militarize our police as well...you equip, arm and dress like soldiers...you act like soldiers...not civilians, which is what the police are

[Gordon Yeo]

Maybe if the police are going to act like soldiers we should cut their wages by half too a soldiers pay. Think of there savings to the tax payer. OPP got an 8% pay raise, who else gets that in this day and age.

[chris vickery]

Apparently US police departments are having issues returning their supplied military gear back to the Defense Dept.
Many American depts are now trying to unmilitarize their forces
In light of recent events there.
Glad to see OPG screwing us some more...

[45jim]

This is not a baby MRAP, not even close. This is a security vehicle and the protection level of a security vehicle is determined by the weapons carried by the security staff themselves not some threat assessment, for exactly the reason your thinking. If they carry just pistols then the protection level is just that. The reason the vehicle is slab-sided is that its easy to fabricate armour plate for the simple body. Lets face it, it's a commercial cube van chassis with a steel box on it. The ballistic windows are off-the-shelf items so nothing here is cutting edge or "over the top". The design and the colour are there to intimidate and provide a limited amount of protection, that's all.

A terrorist attack on a Nuclear facility is something we don't want to contemplate and unless the responsible police agency was extremely well trained they could do more harm than good. A well trained internal force would know what area or item is critical as opposed to ordinary, where its ok to use your weapon and where its not.

And remember this is not a police force they are not there to interact with the public, they are there to protect a vital point - that's all. If next week someone blew up a reactor and all we had on duty were Commissionaires we would be calling for the Governments head. Clearly the expense of a small force for such an expensive and important part of our infastructure is justified. These vehicles are used all over the world for similar work.

If you want one, get your controlled goods and buy one. Lenco will sell you one from stock but it wont have the cool looking Israeli windows.

[Scott Bentley]

MRAP = Mine Resistant Ambush Protected

It's a class of vehicle which that one clearly is. Get over it.

EDIT to add:

Let me quantify some of my earlier comments so I don't come across as sounding too harsh.

The protective level of an armoured vehicle is that in which it provides to the occupants, i.e., from small arms, light anti-armour weapons etc. It has sweet diddly to do with what the crew is carrying or whats mounted on it. When the term MRAP is used, the first thing that comes to mind are FPI Cougar's and Buffalo's. They merely represent the top end of the MRAP scale. Virtually anything that is factory armoured and militarized these days is an MRAP (save for the light weight stuff like armoured SUVs used for VIPs). That thing isn't an up-armoured SUV nor is it a Brinks Truck... That thing is built to withstand something stronger; think armoured piercing and your getting close.

A threat assessment is used to determine what weapon systems and tactics could be reasonably expected from the "threat". This then allows the organization to determine everything from how high the perimeter fence should be to what equipment or weapons are required to defeat that threat. Following that, "needs" comes in the form of a Statement of Requirements which is then used to shop around, in this case for a Baby MRAP. It is not about just buying something because its cool, available, someone else uses it, or looks threatening. Its about equipping to meet the threat. This is why I mentioned that "I'd love to see the threat assessment that validated OPG's need for baby MRAPs (complete with cupola)". I'm not advocating for or against it, i'm just curious as a citizen of Canada.

A few years ago I was part of the military working group that determined the Tactics, Techniques and Procedures for EROC. If you're not familiar, EROC was the program that saw Canada purchase Cougars and Buffalos (and Huskys) for use in the opening of dangerous routes in Afghanistan. Additionally, I completed significant training on Security Engineering with US Army Corp of Engineers. This is where my babble about threat assessments come from. So, admittedly I know dick all about Nuclear Plants and Policing, however I am coming from a college level background of securing Vital Points and patrolling with MRAPs.

Good day to you.