Did you know the MBTA has a "Civil Disturbance Unit" on wheels that is designed to restrain and transport public-transit perps? We didn't, either. David Abel of the Globe describes the MBTA's ride, which has been in use since May:

The large, jet-black bus has four surveillance cameras on its roof trained in every direction, and looks like the kind of tool an authoritarian regime might use to scare or scoop up dissidents and other malcontents.

Abel is having a blast writing about the MBTA's tricked-out paddy wagon. Abel also slyly notes that the Civil Disturbance Unit has been deployed "fewer than 10 times and have yet to make an arrest." Yet they are getting the best jail-on-wheels that money can buy. Surely they could do just fine with the de rigeur sturdy white van that typically holds drunks and rioters.

The MBTA gets stabby sometimes, but the transit police's reflexes have been slow when it comes to picking up the perps. Why does the MBTA police need a SWAT fantasy when they need to be agile to respond to problems that could occur on the sprawling MBTA system? The more distressing subtext is that the "Civil Disturbance Unit" is at the ready for protests or embarrassing Aqua Teen Hunger Force incidents, not for the stabbiness that occurs on the T on a day-to-day basis.

Image of "Pimp My Ride" logo from MTV.