The Tarrant County Sheriff鈥檚 Office received the go-ahead to buy its first armored vehicle on Tuesday, and it carries a $345,000 price tag.
County commissioners approved the purchase of a , a 鈥渟tandard vehicle in U.S. SWAT鈥� that is also used in the U.S. military, according to the Massachusetts-based armored vehicle manufacturer鈥檚 website.
The vehicle can drive off-road and fit 10 to 12 鈥渇ully equipped鈥� officers.
The Republicans on the Commissioners Court won a 3-2 vote against the Democrats to approve Lenco's bid.
The sheriff鈥檚 office needed an armored vehicle for more than a dozen responses in the past year, according to the department.
For those incidents, they borrowed one from other area law enforcement agencies, like Fort Worth or Burleson, which means Tarrant County deputies had to wait up to an hour and a half for a response, the department said.
The sheriff鈥檚 department had already budgeted for the armored vehicle, but Republican commissioner Manny Ramirez said he would have said yes even if the purchase was a brand-new idea.
鈥淚f those men and women need a tool that's going to help them go home at night, and it's within our power to budget for it, and if it's going to help keep the public safe, I'm always going to support it,鈥� said Ramirez, who is also the former head of .
Democratic commissioner Alisa Simmons, who represents southeast Tarrant County, said she didn鈥檛 see a problem with the department鈥檚 previous strategy of borrowing armored vehicles from other local law enforcement agencies.
Her colleague Roy Charles Brooks, representing southwest Tarrant County, said local law enforcement doesn鈥檛 need this kind of heavy-duty equipment.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe in the militarization of our public safety officers and departments, and I鈥檓 not gonna vote for this,鈥� Brooks said.
Police forces across the country have invested in military-grade equipment, and not without controversy. found that police departments that get more equipment from the military kill more people. Another study found that using military equipment erodes .
The Fort Worth Police Department had two BearCat armored vehicles as of 2020,
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org. You can follow Miranda on Twitter @MirandaRSuarez.
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