I’ve been tracking the pattern of private money reshaping police technology for over a year now. When Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill announced back in February that “anonymous donors” had gifted his department a fleet of Tesla Cybertrucks, I had a pretty good idea who was behind it. Now, thanks to public records obtained by The Guardian, we know for certain: it’s the same Silicon Valley billionaire who’s been systematically outfitting LVMPD with millions of dollars worth of tech from his own venture capital portfolio.

The Cybertruck donation is just the latest chapter in what’s become one of the most significant examples of private influence over public policing in America.

What: Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), and his wife Felicia donated 11 Tesla Cybertrucks to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
Value: Approximately $2.7 million for the Cybertruck fleet alone
Total donations: Over $18 million to LVMPD including $8-9 million for Project Blue Sky drones, plus license plate readers, AI-powered 911 technology, and surveillance cameras
Timeline: Donation finalized in late January 2025; trucks deployed November 2025 after 10 months of modifications
Why it matters: Most donated tech comes from Andreessen Horowitz portfolio companies, raising questions about whether billionaires can buy influence with law enforcement

The Guardian obtained internal police emails through a public records request, revealing how the donation was orchestrated. The documents show LVMPD Chief of Staff Mike Gennaro coordinated directly with Horowitz on technology deployments.

“As we’ve discussed, the use of these vehicles would represent a groundbreaking approach to modern policing,” Gennaro wrote in an email to Horowitz on December 1, 2024. In another exchange about drone deployment, Gennaro’s response to Horowitz was even more revealing: “Whatever you want, Ben.”

The Portfolio Company Pattern

Here’s what makes this story significant beyond a simple donation headline: Ben Horowitz isn’t just giving away random tech. He’s systematically placing Andreessen Horowitz portfolio company products into Las Vegas law enforcement.

According to documents reviewed by both The Guardian and TechCrunch, LVMPD has received:

Skydio drones for Project Blue Sky (a16z portfolio company)
Flock Safety license plate readers (a16z portfolio company)
Prepared911 AI-powered call technology (a16z portfolio company)
Surveillance cameras and computer terminals
Tesla Cybertrucks (not an a16z portfolio company, but Horowitz invested $400 million in Musk’s Twitter takeover)

I covered the Skydio drone angle extensively on DroneXL when TechCrunch first exposed the relationship in November 2024. At the time, Horowitz’s total donations to LVMPD had reached $7.6 million. With the additional drone funding and now the Cybertrucks, that figure has ballooned past $18 million.

The money flows through police foundations, which critics say bypass normal procurement processes and lack transparency in donation reporting. “Billionaires should not be allowed to buy access and influence with law enforcement,” said Evan Feeney of Color Of Change when the drone donations were revealed.

The Cybertruck’s Troubled Track Record

The timing of this donation couldn’t be worse for Tesla’s flagship pickup. The Cybertruck has become the company’s most recalled, slowest-selling vehicle, with sales collapsing while competitors surge.

As we’ve documented extensively at EVXL:

10 recalls since production began in late 2023
Sales down 63% year-over-year in Q3 2025
Ford F-150 Lightning sales up nearly 40% in the same quarter
10,000 unsold Cybertrucks sitting in inventory as of May 2025, representing $800 million in capital
Banned in Europe due to pedestrian safety concerns over its 6,834-pound weight and angular design

The most recent recall in October covered all 63,619 Cybertrucks ever built for parking lights that were too bright. Before that, 46,000 units were recalled for detaching windshield trim. The original accelerator pedal recall revealed Tesla had used soap as a lubricant during assembly.

LVMPD says all recalls were addressed before the trucks hit the streets. The 11-vehicle fleet includes 10 patrol units and one “sting protector” SWAT vehicle, all modified by UpFit in Hawthorne, California. The police department requested that UpFit remove Tesla’s “Beast” mode, which enables 0-60 mph acceleration in 2.6 seconds and a 130 mph top speed.

Other Cities Are Running Away From Tesla

While Las Vegas embraces donated Cybertrucks, other municipalities are moving in the opposite direction:

Baltimore had pledged $5 million for Tesla sedans for municipal employees in June 2024, but backed off those plans by March 2025
King County, Washington officials faced significant resident backlash for purchasing 120 Tesla vehicles for their municipal carpooling program
California towns where officers have tested Tesla sedans for law enforcement report the vehicles “aren’t fit for modern policing”

The ACLU of Nevada isn’t impressed with Las Vegas’s approach either.

“I recognize that LVMPD sees value in having cool-looking vehicles around, and it projects an air of modernity and sophistication. But the reality is that for communities, that’s not what they’re asking for,” said Athar Haseebullah, the organization’s executive director. “They’re asking to feel safer. I don’t know that a Tesla Cybertruck makes anybody feel any safer.”

The Morale Argument

The internal emails obtained by The Guardian reveal how police leadership framed the donation to Horowitz.

“The morale of the cops will be through the roof when these show up at their substations,” Gennaro wrote while coordinating logistics. “And we will use them as a tool to keep morale high and cops productive.”

Sheriff McMahill has been even more effusive.

“They represent something far bigger than just a police car,” he said at a press conference in October. “They represent innovation.”

When asked why the department chose Cybertrucks over more conventional alternatives, McMahill emphasized the bulletproof stainless steel body, noting that Metro’s other squad cars aren’t armored. He also pointed to Tesla’s data capabilities, referencing how the company provided detailed driver tracking data after a Cybertruck exploded outside Trump Tower Las Vegas on New Year’s Day 2025.

“These trucks are high performance and they’re built tough,” McMahill said, echoing Ford’s “Built Tough” tagline. “Cops are going to look kinda cool in them too.”

EVXL’s Take

I’ve been covering the EV industry long enough to recognize when a “donation” is really a marketing investment. And that’s what this looks like to me.

Tesla’s Cybertruck inventory crisis is well documented. The company built the truck to hit 250,000 annual units, but demand never materialized. With Tesla’s European market share collapsing y deliveries declining globally, every Cybertruck that rolls off the lot matters.

Having 11 Cybertrucks patrol the Las Vegas Strip, wrapped in police livery and visible to millions of tourists annually? That’s advertising you can’t buy. Except apparently you can, if you’re a billionaire VC who backed Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition and happens to live in Vegas.

The bigger concern is the pattern we’ve been documenting at DroneXL: Silicon Valley billionaires systematically funding police technology from their own portfolio companies. When Skydio can’t compete with DJI on price or product quality, they lobby to ban DJI and donate Skydio drones to police departments. When the Cybertruck can’t sell on its merits, it becomes a “donation” that bypasses normal procurement.

Here’s what I expect: More of this. As EV sales remain challenged post-tax-credit and Chinese competition intensifies, we’ll see more “donations” and “partnerships” that blur the line between public service and private marketing. Tesla benefits from the brand visibility. Andreessen Horowitz portfolio companies benefit from police contracts. And taxpayers get to maintain vehicles they never voted to acquire.

The question isn’t whether private donations to police are legal. They clearly are. The question is whether we’re comfortable with a single billionaire funding over $18 million in tech for one police department, much of it from companies in which he has a direct financial interest.

For what it’s worth, Musk responded to the news with his characteristic subtlety: a sunglasses emoji on X.

What do you think about private funding shaping public safety technology? Let us know in the comments.