Albany Democrat-Herald – by Alex Paul
Linn County’s commissioners on Tuesday approved accepting a $284,513 Emergency Management Homeland Security Grant to purchase an armored personnel vehicle.
In a written request to the commissioners, Sheriff Jim Yon noted, “Our world has changed in the last 10 years. A fire truck was attacked last week in Springfield. They took shotgun rounds to the cab while responding to an emergency call. We need to have equipment like this to protect ourselves and the public from that type of evil.”
Lenco Armored Vehicles has produced the BearCat, an acronym for Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck, since 2001. It weighs 17,550 pounds and is 12 feet long and 10 feet wide. The vehicle holds up to 12 people, including two crew members, and is powered by a 440-horsepower diesel engine mated to a Ford six-speed transmission.
Lenco builds its vehicles with military-spec steel armor plates that can withstand multi-hit attacks from everything from 7.62 mm to .50-caliber shells. Founded in Massachusetts in 1981, the company has produced more than 6,000 vehicles at its 170,000-square-foot facility. Military and police and fire departments use them in more than 40 countries.
Yon said his office’s repurposed armored vehicle is old and he’s not certain of its resistance to modern-day ammunition.
The new vehicle, Yon said, “is an armored personnel vehicle that can take a 50-caliber round. There are no matching funds (needed) for this grant. This will greatly enhance our SWAT team’s capacity to resolve issues. This vehicle will allow our operators to get close to a residence while protected inside this vehicle. We can deliver phones and different devices to communicate with barricaded subjects to resolve critical situations.”
His logic for this vehicle is flawed ( it’s not a fire engine so it’s not going to be used by the FD so there’s still the same threat to the firemen)
Anyways , a lot of people are opposed to these vehicles being given or sold to municipalities
Myself I see it a different way
Now We the People could have access to these in a complete collapse or nearing that phase
It’s ours anyways we are the ones paying for them
So in the time of need , just go take it
It’s not like you’d have to fear getting shot in it or bombed out of it
Besides driving over cop cars is a friken blast
But is it paint on the windows and gas fire underneath proof?
Didn’t think so.
So a paintball gun and a gas.can kill everyone inside. Good because i dont have a .50bmg to test it.