{"id":267614,"date":"2025-11-02T21:36:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T21:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/267614\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T21:36:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T21:36:11","slug":"the-nations-largest-police-fleet-of-tesla-cybertrucks-is-about-to-hit-the-streets-of-las-vegas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/267614\/","title":{"rendered":"The nation’s largest police fleet of Tesla Cybertrucks is about to hit the streets of Las Vegas"},"content":{"rendered":"

The nation\u2019s largest police fleet of Tesla<\/a> Cybertrucks is set to begin patrolling the streets of Las Vegas in November thanks to a donation from a U.S. tech billionaire, raising concerns about the blurring of lines between public and private interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to the future of policing,\u201d Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill said during a recent press conference, surrounded by the Cybertrucks while drones hovered overhead and a police helicopter circled above him.<\/p>\n

The fleet of 10 black-and-white Cybertrucks of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department with flashing lights and sirens are wrapped with the police department\u2019s logo. About 400 officers have been trained to operate the trucks that will use public charging stations.<\/p>\n

The all-electric vehicles are equipped with shotguns, shields and ladders and additional battery capacity to better handle the demands of a police department, McMahill said.<\/p>\n

The donation has raised concerns from government oversight experts about private donors\u2019 influence on public departments and the boost to the Tesla brand. The department is the latest U.S. city to turn to Tesla models even as Elon\u00a0Musk<\/a>\u2019s electric vehicle company has faced\u00a0blowback<\/a> because of his work earlier in the year to advance the president\u2019s political agenda and downsize the federal government.<\/p>\n

McMahill noted the trucks will help keep officers safer because they are bulletproof, while Metro\u2019s other squad cars are not. Each Cybertruck is valued at somewhere between $80,000 and $115,000 and will be used to respond to calls like barricades and shootings in addition to regular patrols.<\/p>\n

The Cybertrucks also offer unique benefits such as a shorter turn radius, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey look a little bit different than the patrol cars that we have out there, but they represent something far bigger than just a police car,\u201d the sheriff said. \u201cThey represent innovation. They represent sustainability, and they represent our continued commitment to serve this community with the best tools that we have available, safely, efficiently and responsibly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cybertrucks have been repeatedly recalled<\/p>\n

The fleet comes amid a\u00a0roller coaster year<\/a>\u00a0for Tesla that has dealt with multiple recalls.<\/p>\n

In March, U.S. safety regulators\u00a0recalled<\/a>\u00a0virtually all Cybertrucks on the road.<\/p>\n

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration\u2019s recall, which covered more than 46,000 Cybertrucks, warned that an exterior panel that runs along the left and right side of the windshield can detach while driving, creating a dangerous road hazard for other drivers, increasing the risk of a crash. Tesla offered to replace the panels free of charge in notification letters sent out in May.<\/p>\n

In late October, Tesla announced another recall of more than\u00a063,000 Cybertrucks<\/a>\u00a0in the U.S. because the front lights are too bright, which may cause a distraction to other drivers and increase the risk of a collision.<\/p>\n

Las Vegas officer Robert Wicks with the department\u2019s public information office said all of Tesla\u2019s recalls will have been dealt with before the Cybertrucks patrol the streets. The March recall regarding panel issues was handled before the department received the trucks, he said.<\/p>\n

Federal regulators also have opened yet\u00a0another investigation<\/a> into Tesla\u2019s self-driving feature after dozens of incidents in which the cars ran red lights or drove on the wrong side of the road, sometimes crashing into other vehicles and causing injuries.<\/p>\n

The Cybertrucks modified for the Las Vegas police fleet do not have any kind of self-driving feature.<\/p>\n

Laura Martin, executive director of the Progressive<\/a> Leadership Alliance of Nevada Action Fund, said the imposing trucks with their sharp angles \u201cseems like they\u2019re designed for intimidation and not safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just seems like Cybertrucks arriving on the streets of Clark County shows that Sheriff McMahill is prioritizing corporate giveaways and police militarization over real community needs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Some express concerns with private donation<\/p>\n

The donation comes after President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0earlier this year shopped for a new Tesla on the White House driveway and said he hoped his purchase would help the company as it struggled with sagging sales and declining stock prices.<\/p>\n

Athar Haseebullah, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, said now the Las Vegas fleet of another Tesla model \u201cto patrol our communities really draws the next parallel there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haseebullah also is worried about the Cybertrucks\u2019 surveillance abilities that the public may not be unaware of, and that the fleet might give Tesla access to police data.<\/p>\n

Following the explosion of a Cybertruck outside of Trump\u2019s Las Vegas tower earlier this year, Tesla was able to\u00a0provide detailed data<\/a>\u00a0of the driver inside, including the driver\u2019s movements leading up to the explosion.<\/p>\n

Ed Obayashi, a special prosecutor in California and an expert on national and state police practices, said private donations to law enforcement is not uncommon nor illegal unless a local or state law prohibits it.<\/p>\n

In this case, the donation is a physical piece of equipment, and the money can\u2019t be diverted to something else, Obayashi said. That said, he doesn\u2019t think the trucks provide the department with a specific advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not going to be really any distinct or noticeable advantage or benefits, so to speak, other than the fact that it\u2019s a free vehicle and it saves the taxpayers money to replace equipment,\u201d Obayashi said.<\/p>\n

Donation comes from tech venture capitalist<\/p>\n

The Las Vegas fleet was a donation totaling about $2.7 million from\u00a0Ben Horowitz<\/a>, co-founder of the Silicon Valley venture capital firm known as Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, and his wife, Felicia Horowitz.<\/p>\n

The couple, who live in Las Vegas, have made multiple donations to the department, including between $8 million to $9 million for Project Blue Sky, the department\u2019s implementation of drones throughout the valley. They\u2019ve also donated funds to buy emergency call technology and license plate readers \u2014 products from companies in which Andreessen Horowitz invests.<\/p>\n

Ben Horowitz, who has donated to political campaigns for both Democrats and Republicans, was among the investors who\u00a0backed Elon Musk\u2019s bid to take over Twitter<\/a>, now known as X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His venture capitalist firm also hosted McMahill and Metro Chief of Staff Mike Gennaro on a podcast in November 2024.<\/p>\n

Ben and Felicia Horowitz could not be reached for comment, however in a 2024 blog post, Ben Horowitz described their interest in donating to the department, stressing the importance of public safety and the difficulties public sectors have in budgeting for technology.<\/p>\n

McMahill said the couple wanted to make sure that Las Vegas didn\u2019t \u201cbecome California when it comes to crime.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The nation\u2019s largest police fleet of Tesla Cybertrucks is set to begin patrolling the streets of Las Vegas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[10060,28,52739,5040],"class_list":{"0":"post-267614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-autos","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-cybertruck","11":"tag-electric-vehicles"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}