Then-Warren County Undersheriff Shawn Lamouree poses in front of the department's Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, or MRAP, shortly after it was acquired under the military 1033 program in 2013 in Queensbury, N.Y. Many NY police participate in 1033 program Alessandra Biaggi, D-Pelham, Westchester County, who sponsors a bill to restrict police agencies' participation in the program. "As long as police continue to arm themselves with military equipment, they're going to approach every community as a war zone," said state Sen. The program, however, has gained scrutiny from critics in recent years for its role in further militarizing local police forces, particularly when MRAPs and other military vehicles are used as a show of force to clear streets during times of civil unrest - including the recent protests over the killing of George Floyd. Police across the state and nation say the program has helped provide them with useful tools they never would have been able to find room in the budget for otherwise. military under what's known as the 1033 program, which allows the Department of Defense to disperse surplus vehicles, aircraft, equipment and supplies to local or state police agencies. The vehicles, each originally purchased for upwards of $859,000, are provided to local police departments free of charge by the U.S. In the last seven years, two dozen New York police departments big and small have acquired Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (or MRAPs), armored utility trucks that were originally built to protect soldiers from explosions in war zones across the globe. So does Jefferson County in the North Country, Madison County in central New York and a handful of spots in the Hudson Valley. The village of Albion - population 6,000, 17 miles north of Batavia - has an ambush-protected military truck, too. Batavia, a small city between Buffalo and Rochester, is home to 14,000 people, five square miles - and one 14-ton truck built to withstand IED blasts and other wartime attacks.
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