I saw the show, they profiled an incident where a fatality occurred and seemed to use that to reinforce the reason for the retrofit of that British armored vehicle.
That's a unique location with famous annual events whereas plenty of alcohol, + other favorite intoxicants are probably common, during these celebrations.
Given that, and the stated purpose of the vehicle for crowd dispersal, I can understand the justification for having it at ones disposal for that sole purpose, in the hands of a trusted and just law enforcement officer, any other use or purpose I would question too, its a specific tool for a specific job, and I assume the 1919 in that turret is an insurance policy for the operator, however, I'd not want to be in his/her shoes, that vehicle as armed still does not exhibit much confidence that it could not be breached, nor do I like the grenade tube set up, if I am not mistaken, no way to reload them from inside. There is no doubt it could be stopped and overtaken, outflanked, draw his fire, water, run him out, harass, distract, etc., it has tires, blind spots, if that is what big brother is going to use, he'd better go back to the drawing board, what has been developed recently for the military is what would concern me, if same was turned on us. That is a surplus vehicle, probably bought on a budget with modifications in mind, to fit that budget for the intended purpose to disperse a crowd, one that is unarmed.
It would be interesting to set up a field problem for it and test it under more realistic proving ground type tests though, put some people out there, fire those grenades, water and see how many get through, just on that alone, teargas is nasty as I recall from NBC and the gas chamber, but aside from all the tears, gagging and snots dripping, would you trust that to stop an angry drug or alcohol fueled crowd, not in my book, then of course its easy to turn that 1919 on em, cause the water ran out, tear gas ineffective, threat of being overtaken or worse.
I like the show, Will, can be a (short for Richard) sometimes, looks like he's built a respectable business though and being a boss/owner never easy. I like to see the design, fabrication of things, same with the other shows and it is very interesting to see work like armoring, gun-smithing, machinist, welding/fabricating, problem solving, and most things they work on, even the antiques.
Quick thoughts on the show:
It's too bad Vince caught such an attitude, which I could understand to some degree, you still have to be professional at all times even under duress. He was talented, very intelligent and was part of a pretty good team, they seem like a good group, he's lucky to have them, that one guy who came on and brought a German MG to the interview, sure has talent with that welding process on the De-militarized weapons they have rebuilt. I like the other show too, the one in CO. they were both on together on another show after.
