Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz has donated a fleet of Tesla Cybertrucks to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, the division has confirmed to TechCrunch.
The Cybertruck fleet is the newest entry in an inventory of presents Horowitz has given to the Las Vegas police — a relationship TechCrunch revealed intimately late final 12 months. The enterprise capitalist has donated greater than $7 million to the division over the previous few years.
Most of that cash has been used to buy know-how from Andreessen Horowitz portfolio corporations. At occasions, TechCrunch’s reporting confirmed, the police division supplied Horowitz the possibility to weigh in on how that know-how was deployed.
Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill first announced the Cybertruck reward on February 25 at his annual “state of the division” tackle. He stated through the speech that the vehicles have been offered by an nameless donor and that they wouldn’t come out of the division’s finances. The Las Vegas Overview-Journal was the primary to report that Horowitz and his spouse Felicia were behind the gift.
“We would like this stuff as a result of the cops inside shall be protected it doesn’t matter what. These cease bullets. They’re additionally an amazing recruitment device for us,” McMahill stated in his speech.
McMahill stated on stage that the division would obtain 10 Cybertrucks, though an unnamed division spokesperson instructed TechCrunch that Horowitz donated 11 of them. Horowitz didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Horowitz’s earlier presents to the Las Vegas police have been made by donating funds to the division’s nonprofit police basis — a way of funding that police accountability advocates say hurts transparency and competitors. On this case, although, the division instructed the Las Vegas Overview-Journal that the donation was not made to the police basis. The division didn’t reply to TechCrunch’s query about how the donation was made.