Law enforcement

Military vehicle acquired to serve as valuable tool locally

Since the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office put the newest addition to its fleet on the road a couple months ago, it has been the subject of plenty of conversations and turned heads.

The Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) MaxxPro is a towering 20-ton beast the agency was able to acquire free of charge — less shipping costs — through an ongoing partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). It will aid in disaster relief, raids, hostage situations and various other responses that pose immediate danger to law enforcement and those in harm’s way, sheriff’s officials said.

“We had the opportunity to acquire that vehicle for free through the Law Enforcement Support Services office,” said Capt. Doyle Grady, referring to the N.C. Department of Public Safety division known as LESS. “We’ve taken a military vehicle and modified it for local law enforcement purposes.”

As its name suggests, MRAPs were designed specifically to withstand improvised explosive device attacks and ambushes. The DoD’s MRAP program began in 2007 as a response to the increased threat of IEDs during the Iraq War. The program deployed more than 12,000 vehicles for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan before production ended in 2012.