OAKLAND, MI -- President Barack Obama's decision perplexed Oakland County Sheriff Michael Borchard.

Less than a month after the federal government hauled away the county's armored personnel carrier, on the premise it was too intimidating for domestic law enforcement, it awarded another armored personnel carrier, this one larger, newer and potentially more intimidating, the sheriff says.

The day after 14 people were killed in the San Bernardino terrorist attack, a drop-deck trailer loaded Oakland County's M-113 bulletproof personnel carrier, a tank-like -- minus a gun turret -- Vietnam-era vehicle. The agency mobilized it in high-risk situations, such as armed standoffs and surprise felony raids, to both transport in deputies and evacuate citizens.

The federal government ordered similar vehicles be removed from a dozen other Michigan police agencies, not including Wayne and Macomb counties.

The Oakland County Sheriff's Department and the Macomb County Sheriff's Department are two among 10 police agencies nationwide selected to receive Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, which have been regularly used to transport troops in the Middle East.

Where'd they go

Obama, in his Executive Order issued last June, banned domestic law enforcement use of vehicles that, like tanks, move on tracks; bayonets; grenade launchers; and large-caliber weapons or ammo.

Obama decided "tracked vehicles were too intimidating," Bouchard says, but it was a "ready-shoot-aim" approach "based on perception, not reality."

The President's decision was influenced by scenes of "militarized police" during Ferguson, Mo. protests that occurred in 2014.

"At times, the law enforcement response to those protests was characterized as a military-style" operation, as evidenced by videos and photographs that showed law enforcement officers atop armored vehicles, wearing uniforms often associated with the military, and holding military-type weapons," it says in Obama's Executive Order.

Photos the Executive Order seem to reference don't depict vehicles with tank treads, but, rather, armored trucks with wheels, Bouchard says.

U.S. police agencies are regularly issued ex-military equipment through the federal government's 1033 grant program. Since the program was launched in 1997, more than 8,000 agencies have received out-of-service equipment, according to U.S. Government's Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services.

So where are the old vehicles?

The armored personnel carriers from Michigan were trucked up Camp Grayling.

"They're going to be destroyed," Bouchard says, "which ... is a big waste."

Larry Goerge, who administers the 1033 grant program in Michigan, says they'll be blown up by aircraft target practice.

"It's just a curiosity thing," he said. "Most of them were in working order."

Armored replacements

The federal government is taking out of circulation older, tracked armored military personnel vehicles, but they could replace them with as many, if not more, MRAPs -- at least in Michigan.

Bouchard said he was reading an article recently -- he didn't recall where -- in which an official was quoted saying any agency that lost a military vehicle due to Obama's Executive Order would go to the top of the waiting list for the MRAPs awaiting distribution.

He immediately asked personnel to apply and notified Sheriff Anthony Wickersham in neighboring Macomb County. Both agencies became among the first in the nation awarded MRAPs. They expect to receive them in within a couple weeks.

Word spread about the law enforcement windfalls in Oakland and Macomb counties.

As of Dec. 21, 14 other agencies throughout Michigan indicated interest in decommissioned MRAPs of their own. Goerge says there are 400 more awaiting approval for release at a base in Texas. They're expected to be issued later this year.

Other interested Metro Detroit agencies include: The Wayne County Sheriff's Department, the Novi Police Deparment, the St. Clair Shores Police Department, Highland Park Department of Public Services, Westland Police Department and the Sterling Heights Police Department.

In order to qualify, agencies must prove they have funds budgeted for maintenance and the proper personnel to operate them. They arrive "as-is" without decals and sometimes don't run at all, Bouchard said.

Bouchard said everything worked out for his Department, but he's not sure it was the best for taxpayers.

It was "all driven on the president's perception ... " Bouchard said. " ... And it's all because he didn't like some of the pictures that came out of Ferguson."