TOLEDO, Ohio — A proposal before Toledo City Council would repurpose a military tactical vehicle for the streets of Toledo.
Toledo police chief George Kral wants to convert a large, armored military vehicle designed to survive mines and ambushes into one used during standoffs or mass shooting situations.
"We're not using this MRAP as a SWAT truck or raid wagon. This is a rescue vehicle," Kral said.
He says that thanks to a partnership with Mercy Health, it would be staffed with doctors and nurses and function almost like a mini-field hospital to treat any potential wounded.
They're already undergoing specialized training to learn how to treat injured people in the field.
Dr. Nick Sauber, the local EMS Director who works in emergency medicine, says this could give them crucial minutes to save lives.
"From the time a person is injured to the time we have to get to medical care, that is that crucial moment where we have seconds to minutes injuries to stop bleeding, to open an airway," Sauber said.
Kral says this vehicle would be rarely used.
Policing historian Michael Stauch believes allowing these types of vehicles takes Toledo down a slippery slope.
"Imagining the way this equipment looks in the streets, right, and the way it kind of transforms and imagining what policing appears to be for the community," Stauch said.
A number of council people expressed the same concern Tuesday. But there were others in support of the proposal, considering the vehicle would be loaned out to TPD for free and would only be used for emergencies.
"This thing is going to stay put 99.9% of the time. It's only going to be used during high-risk raids, it's not going to be on patrols," Kral said.
Kral pointed to the line-of-duty death of Toledo police officer Brandon Stalker.
He said after Stalker was shot, officers loaded him into a police car and drove him to the hospital. Kral says the MRAP unit would have allowed Stalker to receive vital care right there on the scene.