Hot Springs police request funds

Use of covid aid proposed for purchase of armored vehicle

HOT SPRINGS — Hot Springs has more than $40 million in unfunded capital needs and more than $7 million in federal pandemic relief funds.

The Police Department made its pitch Tuesday for some of the latter, asking the Hot Springs Board of Directors to consider using the restricted balance in the city’s American Rescue Plan Act allocation to purchase an armored vehicle for the SWAT team.

The Lenco BearCat is the preeminent armored tactical rescue vehicle, interim Police Chief Billy Hrvatin told the board. It would replace the 2002 Ford Excursion the SWAT team uses as its “jumpoff vehicle,” Hrvatin said.

“It has oversized running boards, so guys can offload off of it,” he said. “It has no ballistic protection.”

Officers have been shot at or been at scenes where shots were fired four times in the past eight years, Hrvatin said.

“Ballistic protection is a priority for us,” he said, noting the SWAT team has responded to 64 critical incidents in the past five years.

The $246,000 BearCat that Hrvatin requested is built on a Ford F-350 chassis. Its armor is rated for a .50-caliber round. An armored fuel tank, blast-resistant door and top hatch are some of the other features. It can carry up to 12 officers.

“It has a stand-alone AC unit in the back, which is very important for guys wearing 25 to 50 pounds of gear in the summertime,” Hrvatin said.

City Manager Bill Burrough told the board last summer the BearCat would replace the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected, or MRAP, vehicle the city purchased from the Department of Defense in 2014. The inability to find parts has made it difficult to maintain the military vehicle.

Burrough told the board Tuesday the MRAP will remain in service.

“The MRAP still has a lot of life in it, even though parts are hard to get,” he said.

Hrvatin said the smaller BearCat is easier to drive than the 50,000-pound MRAP.

“It’s very easy to operate,” he told the board. “It’s like driving a truck. It has 360-degree cameras that make it easy to see around you. It’s not like driving the MRAP. That takes two people, because you need a navigator to help the driver see.”

Hrvatin also requested a Draco Gas Delivery System for the BearCat’s breaching arm. The forced air delivery system can put tear gas into a structure or vehicle.

“It’s initiated by remote,” Hrvatin said. “It can put a lot of gas into a house very quickly.”

He said the ability to deploy gas remotely may have enabled a more expeditious resolution to the 11-hour standoff the SWAT team had at an East Grand Avenue trailer park in 2018. Gas deployed manually was unable to reach the suspect, who was shooting at officers from the back of the residence.

Hrvatin said the remote delivery system costs $21,500. The 2019 police fund budget included $27,000 to equip the MRAP with a breaching arm and gas needle.

The city said its American Rescue Plan Act restricted fund had a $1.4 million balance. Department of Treasury rules require American Rescue Plan Act funds to be committed by next year and spent by 2026.

Earlier this month, the board transferred the $6.74 million unrestricted American Rescue Plan Act balance to the general fund. The money reimbursed the general fund for salaries and benefits. The enabling resolution didn’t specify the time period the reimbursement covered.