Brentwood police will soon be getting their first-ever armored rescue vehicle.
The City Council unanimously approved the $367,907 expenditure this week after hearing Police Chief Tom Hansen speak on the need for the vehicle to help protect officers and others during crisis situations.
While some cities in the midst of police reform have shied away from such vehicles because of their militarisitc look and what it symbolizes to some, no one in Brentwood spoke against the proposed purchase, which though an ARV, is not a military vehicle.
Chief Hansen told the council that in the past two years, the Brentwood Police Department has needed an armored rescue vehicle on at least four different occasions. In all but one of these situations, police had to rely on mutual aid to ensure the safety of residents and officers while in the fourth incident, no mutual aid was able to respond, he said. The incidents included high-risk arrest warrants of potentially armed individuals, a possible armed felon threatening to kill himself, and two armed residents experiencing mental health crises.
“I’m sorry that I’m here tonight asking for that,” Hansen told the council “I wish I never had, but I think we all know that it’s escalating throughout our communities, throughout the United States. And they’re not just a little bit, they’re escalating 50 to 60% a year. We’re seeing more incidents of active shooters, hostage situations and people putting themselves in positions where they’re harming innocent folks.”
The money for the ARV, a MedEvac G2, will come from the department’s operating budget, but because the city in April approved a new military use policy, the police must now first seek council approval of any such equipment if it is $50,000 or more.
Hansen said that some might ask, “Why Brentwood?” since it is a relatively small community, but such incidents can happen anywhere he said, citing examples of recent school and mall shootings in small towns.
“I’m sorry, if I could fix this problem, I wouldn’t be a police chief. I’d be writing books,” he said. “I’m in the business of preparing my officers to respond to incidents that need to be taken care of right now. I don’t have time when somebody’s shooting at a movie theater and all. Seconds and minutes that are of the essence.”
The ARV, Hansen said, can be used for a variety of critical incidents such as violent felonies and de-escalation of armed suspects having mental health episodes.
It will also be used for rescue operations, he said, noting the ARV is equipped with life-saving equipment and can safely deliver specially trained personnel and equipment to the scene. The equipment can also be used for evacuating those who are physically unable to safely escape an active shooter situation.
“My goal, and my officers’ goals, are to get victims from the hot zone or the cold zone as soon as possible,” Hansen said, noting the ARV has drop-down doors that can be used to pick up stranded, injured victims.
Councilwoman Susannah Meyer asked if it was equipped with weapons.
“No .. but It’s fully armored and can stop up to a 50-caliber bullet, a large round,” the chief said of the non-military armored vehicle. “It’s different from what some of our neighboring cities are using.”
No one spoke against the expenditure, but resident Rod Flohr said he approved of the purchase.
“It’s unfortunate that we live in a country that for whatever reason, is just swimming and guns, guns, guns, guns — there’s more guns than there are people in this country,” he said. “And it is so unfortunate that enough people have these things and sooner or later somebody thinks it’s a good idea to use it for something.”
Flohr added that “police are not sacrificial lambs; we need to protect our police.”
Council members agreed, with Meyer telling of a chase in her own backyard with a suspect carrying a gun.
“So it does happen in our sweet little town,” she said. “Luckily, there were no injuries or fatalities.
An armored rescue vehicle could not only help keep residents safe, “but make sure that our officers have all the tools they need to do their work and keep themselves safe,” Meyer said.
“I agree with everyone else,” Mayor Joel Bryant said. “This is something that the price of it does not equate to the cost of not having it should we ever need it. And so I’m in full support of it.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com