Letters to police board oppose donated LAV
Police board chair says the vehicle is needed to save lives
Police board member Bob Hall defended the police’s acquisition of a light-armoured vehicle (LAV) at a meeting on Tuesday, calling it “a necessary piece of safety equipment” that will save lives — even as the board received letters from citizens asking for police to be defunded and for the vehicle to be returned.
“It (the LAV) a piece of safety equipment that will be used prudently — that we will be careful with,” Hall said. “It’s going to provide officer safety and civilian safety.”
But some local residents aren’t convinced. Several wrote to the police board that they think acquisition of the vehicle pushes the police toward militarization.
“This type of force is completely unnecessary, unacceptable and unwarranted in a small city like ours,” one person wrote.
The service announced earlier this month that it has accepted a donation of a LAV from an anonymous source.
Police are getting a second-hand SandCat.
The current base model weighs more than 8,800 kilograms and has enough armour to stop mortar fire. It costs roughly $250,000.
At the meeting on Tuesday, the board discussed five letters objecting to the gift, with some writing that they’re “appalled” the police would want an LAV.
Although the names of the letter-writers were removed, the police board did make the letters available to The Examiner.
One person writes that an LAV is meant to negotiate minefields — not the streets of Peterborough.
Another writes that it is “outlandish” to accept an LAV, and another wrote that police must have a “tin ear” to acquire such a vehicle at a time of uprising against police brutality in North America.
One letter was in support of accepting the vehicle, however, noting that “it might just save a cop’s life.”
Hall said it might also save the public’s lives; he said that when a gunman opened fire in a nightclub in a homophobic attack in Orlando, Fla., in 2016, for example, police saved lives because they had an LAV.
“Without this piece of equipment, they assume the casualties would have been doubled,” Hall said.
Police Chief Scott Gilbert was also at the meeting and said the vehicle will be used “in a defensive manner” for officer and community safety — although he didn’t offer any hypothetical situations when the vehicle might be necessary.
“It’s going to be called upon in critical situations to save lives,” he said.
The police board also received 11 letters asking that city council defund city police, and one asking that the police budget be maintained for 2021.
In 2020, council gave about $26.3 million to city police out of a municipal budget that included $286.3 million for services and $57.4 million for construction and capital spending.
Many of the 11 letters asking for police to be defunded requested that council consider spending more money to alleviate social problems such as homelessness and addiction instead of spending on police.
The letters also mention racism. One person wrote that to increase the police budget in 2021 would be “a slap in the face” to Black Canadians who’ve endured racism at the hands of police and of society in general.
“Remember that most instances of what has been labelled as ‘crime’ results from people who aren’t able to meet their basic needs,” one letter states.
Hall said neither he nor police would ever object to the city investing more to alleviate social ills.
City police and the police services board will consider these points of view, he added: “Our history in Peterborough is that we’re a community police service — and that we listen and have respect.”
Coun. Gary Baldwin, the board chair, added that the board would accommodate anyone who wants to make a delegation on the matter — perhaps via video conference, he said, since the board has been meeting virtually in the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It (the LAV) a piece of safety equipment that will be used prudently — that we will be careful with.”
BOB HALL POLICE BOARD CHAIR