Police: Vehicles ‘just a rolling shield’
Local law enforcement agencies defend efforts to get armored trucks
Since 2013, four local police departments have each received an armored vehicle from the military through a federal program, and officials from each department said the vehicles are mostly used for rescue missions.
Local police department officials compared the vehicles to rolling body armor in high-risk calls, like an active shooter or helping someone stranded during a storm. All the police officials stated the vehicles are used by SWAT teams and not for day-to-day police operations.
“It’s been a tremendous value,” said Porter County Sheriff David Reynolds. “With an armored vehicle, we pray we don’t have to use it but it’s nice to have. I want to stress we only use it when we need it.”
But, researchers found that police use of militarygrade armored vehicles typically isn’t necessarily well received by the public.
Rasul Mowatt, professor of American Studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, said research has shown that local police departments with military-grade equipment give the public a negative perception of police, specifically in Black communities.
Breonna Taylor, who was killed by police while sleeping in her Louisville home, died after a SWAT team responded to her home, Mowatt said.
“You don’t see a decrease in violent crime because of these purchases,” Mowatt said. “The presence of these things mostly increases the likelihood of harmful interactions.”
In August 2019, five months after the Lake County Commissioners signed off on a $340,000 armored rescue vehicle, the Lake County Sheriff’s Department received two armored vehicles through the Law Enforcement Support Office program, which transfers excess Department of Defense equipment to federal, state and local law enforce
ment agencies.
Through the same program, the Merrillville Police Department received an armored vehicle in October 2013 valued at $412,000, and in May 2014 the Munster Police Department received an armored vehicle valued at $733,000, according to federal data.
In August 2016, the Portage Police Department received an armored vehicle valued at $689,000. The Porter County Sheriff’s Department received an armored vehicle valued at $412,000 through the program in August 2014, according to federal data.
Reynolds said the department has used its armored vehicle about three times since it received it, and that the vehicle is assigned to the SWAT unit.
Reynolds said that Porter County residents may not even be aware the department has an armored vehicle because it isn’t used often and because “we’ve never given them a reason to scrutinize us.”
The other added benefit, Reynolds said, is that the LESO armored vehicles are free, besides paying for the cost to transport the vehicle to the local department.
“We’re never going to the council coffers to ask for money to equip our SWAT team,” Reynolds said.
Since the Portage Police Department received its vehicle in August 2016, it has not had to use it, said Public Information Officer Sgt. James Maynard. The vehicle was obtained for its “bullet resistant capabilities” and the seating, which seats 10 people, he said.
The biggest benefit of the vehicles is if there were an active shooter in an outdoor space, Maynard said, it would allow officers to drive up close to rescue victims and provide armored cover.
“It’s basically a big piece of body armor,” Maynard said. “It’s a completely nonoffensive vehicle. There’s no weapon systems … when the military gave it to us any of the offensive capabilities were removed from it.”
The Merrillville and Munster armored vehicles are mostly used by the Northwest Regional SWAT Team, according to officials from each department. In Munster, the vehicle is also used by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security District 1, said Munster Police Department Investigations Division Commander Lt. John Peirick.
The Munster Police Department uses the vehicle to transport police, medics and first responders into a dangerous situation and to take residents or victims out, Peirick said.
“This vehicle is used as a defensive tool to safe-keep first responders and residents or victims. The safety that this vehicle provides to residents or victims and first responders is invaluable,” Peirick said.
The Merrillville Police Department needed a new armored vehicle because it previously used a 1988 bread delivery truck to respond to high-risk calls, said Assistant Chief Konstantinos Nuses. Since receiving the vehicle, it has been “used numerous times” for calls like active shooters, assisting the FBI serving a “high risk” warrant and rescue residents during snow and rain storms, he said.
“It’s just a rolling shield, really, because its armor allows them to get protective cover from any type of high powered rifle round,” Nuses said.
Nuses said he remembers an incident where police officers were in a standoff with an armed man who, once he saw the armored vehicle, “gave up because he knew he didn’t have a chance.”
“It was able to quickly defuse a pretty volatile situation that could’ve turned ugly with no force involved,” Nuses said.
The public views police departments obtaining the vehicles as militarization of police, but most people don’t know that the vehicles have been demilitarized — meaning no weapons or logistics systems are inside — before local police departments use them, Nuses said.
The specific benefit to the LESO program is that departments don’t pay for the vehicle, which saves taxpayer money, he said. The public’s perception of the armored vehicles, Nuses said, depends on whom you ask.
“It’s a rescue vehicle. Some people celebrate and say, ‘Oh my God, that’s so awesome.’ Others think its the local police departments trying to militarize, which is not the case,” Nuses said. “I think it’s a mixed opinion. It all depends on who you ask.”
Maynard said when the Portage Police Department was in the process of receiving the armored vehicle, he anticipated that residents would view the vehicle as militarizing the police. In response, Maynard said he held events and spoke to as many residents as possible to explain the use of the vehicle and how it doesn’t have the military-style weapons.
David Kim, a lecturer in criminal justice at Indiana University East in Richmond, said that research shows that people’s perception of police is based on their individual interactions.
In some areas, police militarization has led to a decrease in certain crimes, like assault and robbery, but it hasn’t been successful everywhere, Kim said. The best approach for police officers to increase positive interaction with residents, Kim said, is to implement community policing, which allows police and residents to interact without an incident taking place.
“Having some community-oriented activities may help with that perception, and may change that perception by the citizens,” Kim said.
While some police departments across the country have responded to protests with armored vehicles, including at the Southlake Mall in Hobart and in Portage, Maynard said those vehicles wouldn’t be useful unless gunshots are fired.
“This is a bulletproof box, is what it boils down to. Even if the crowd had turned violent in our incident, I see limited use in a vehicle like that until there’s gunfire,” Maynard said.
Police departments should consider spending money in a way to help the community, Mowatt said. For example, if a disturbance call comes in and the person involved is homeless, police officers should be given discretion to purchase the person a motel room for a few nights.
“They are this one-stop shop for all these types of calls that could be handled by so many types of people,” Mowatt said. “Instead of being given budgetary discretion … to some other place, the funds are going towards things that just worsen the relationship.”