In a pole barn in Franklin, sharing space with a motorcycle and a boat, sat an imposing military vehicle designed for battlefields in Iraq or Afghanistan, not the streets of Johnson County.

It is an MRAP — a bulletproof, 60,000-pound, six-wheeled behemoth with heavy armor, a gunner’s turret and the word “SHERIFF” emblazoned on its flank — a vehicle whose acronym stands for “mine resistant, ambush protected.”

“We don’t have a lot of mines in Johnson County,” confessed sheriff Doug Cox, who acquired the vehicle. “My job is to make sure my employees go home safe.”

Johnson County is one of eight Indiana law enforcement agencies to acquire MRAPs from military surplus since 2010, according to public records obtained by The Indianapolis Star. The vehicles are among a broad array of 4,400 items — everything from coats to computers to high-powered rifles — acquired by police and sheriff departments across the state.

Law enforcement officials, especially those from agencies with small budgets, say they’re turning to military surplus equipment to take advantage of bargains and protect police officers. The MRAP has an added benefit, said Pulaski County Sheriff Michael Gayer, whose department also acquired one: “It’s a lot more intimidating than a Dodge.”

Even in Pulaski County, population 13,124, a more military approach to law enforcement is needed these days, Gayer suggested.

“The United States of America has become a war zone,” he said. “There’s violence in the workplace, there’s violence in schools and there’s violence in the streets. You are seeing police departments going to a semi-military format because of the threats we have to counteract. If driving a military vehicle is going to protect officers, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

But, to some, the introduction of equipment designed for war in Fallujah, Iraq, to the streets of U.S. towns and cities raises questions about the militarization of civilian police departments. Will it make police inappropriately aggressive? Does it blur the line between civilian police and the military?

“Americans should ... be concerned unless they want their main streets patrolled in ways that mirror a war zone,” wrote Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., co-author of a USA Today article earlier this year. “We recognize that we’re not in Kansas anymore, but are MRAPs really needed in small-town America?”

The former pastor of the parents of a soldier released from Taliban captivity after almost five years said Friday they have been hurt by allegations that he was a traitor and by the outpouring of anger toward their family.

“They have been really hurt,” said Pastor Phil Proctor of Sterling Presbyterian Church in Sterling, Virginia. “They’re trying to keep their heads down.”

Proctor said Bob and Jani Bergdahl were surprised by interviews they have seen with former platoon mates of their son Bowe Bergdahl. Some of the soldiers told media outlets they didn’t support the exchange of five Taliban officials that led to his freedom.

“This very much hit them as a shock and I’m not sure anybody’s got the full story,” said Proctor, who is urging prayer and compassion for the family.

Proctor said the Bergdahls, who live in Idaho, have yet to speak with their son, who is currently recovering at a military hospital in Germany.

Bob Bergdahl, who has a full beard and spoke briefly in Pashto during a White House news conference, has spent the past five years trying to identify with the culture of his son’s captors, Proctor said.

“Well the beard thing, and the Pashto, Bob felt from the get-go if there was going to be a diplomatic solution that it was kind of on him to do it,” Proctor said. “He felt like as Bowe’s father he could reach out and try to speak directly to various people and he did so.”