A city's police force in the US has a tank?

And the answer is yes. The city is Tampa, Florida. And they aren't the only city. But the question is "why?" For the love of God, is this China? I don't think this is the kind of nation we Americans think we belong to and live in. Of course, we also think we're "peace loving" people, too, in spite of being at the center of virtually every conflict taking place in the world right now. The Tyler, Texas police department has one, too, as does the York County, Pennsylvania, Pasadena, Texas, and Sparks, Nevada police. Is this who we are? Is this what we've become? Is this really necessary? For what it's worth, I don't think so. Fortunately, I'm not alone: "It's all an illusion," said Jim Fisher, a former professor of criminal justice at Edinboro University and author of a book on SWAT teams. "The fact your police dept just bought an armored vehicle does not make you safer. It's going to make you poorer, becuase your taxes will go up to pay for training and maintenance." Let's put a stop to this nonsense before this gets any further. Links: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/12/police-militarization-9-11-september-11_n_955508.html; http://www.alternet.org/story/151528/why_do_the_police_have_tanks_the_strange_and_dangerous_militarization_of_the_us_police_force/; http://jalopnik.com/5720776/why-do-americas-police-need-an-armored-tank; https://www.google.com/#pq=largest+cities+in+the+us+with+tanks&hl=en&cp=19&gs_id=4p&xhr=t&q=police+departments+in+the+us+with+tanks&tok=nnXoCgMQ-qquOVdBE_QWzw&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=police+departments+in+the+us+with+tanks&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=7c5e9ee32ee8b16e&biw=1140&bih=562&bs=1