The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office now owns a BearCat. And no, it’s not a pet.
It’s a tactical armored vehicle, a cross between a military tank and a Hummer, used by SWAT teams, the Army and hostage negotiators, and good for “just about anything,” sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Rick Sung said.
The sheriff’s office has a refurbished armored vehicle similar to the BearCat. But this vehicle, made by Lenco, is the first of its kind that was purchased through a federal Department of Homeland Security grant called the Urban Area Security Initiative.
The purchase of this newest model of the BearCat, the G3, was spearheaded by Assistant Sheriff Lindley Zink, 56, who retires next week after 32 years on the job. It cost $285,000.
In describing the vehicle to his peers, Zink wrote that he was just “speechless” about the BearCat’s capabilities including the self-contained breathing apparatus system and the ability to detect explosives and traces of radiation from inside the vehicle.
The BearCat can also withstand bullets fired from .50 caliber weapons.
Sung estimated the vehicle would be used about a dozen times a year.
I fail to see the positive in this story.
If the vehicle will be used a dozen times a year it cost $23,000 a month for one year. The story fails to specify why it might be needed at all or how it will actually be used in each of those 12 times. One of the most expensive, unnecessary big boy toys I have seen in the news.
If you had to face down someone with a semi-automatic rifle wearing nothing but a Kevlar vest, you might think the $$$ is well worth it. But I’m guessing you’re not an officer.
http://www.daily-times.com/ci_17817439
Good guess. I’m one of those Pro-Freedom guys; radical, like Thomas Jefferson.
He said “the 2 enemies of the people are criminals and government.”
For different reasons, but against the people still.
If the “government” had not been allowed to screw with all those Rights of the average Freedom producing citizens, you’d have a thousand of us standing shoulder to shoulder with you against the one guy with a semi-
But the next step the “authorities” want to take is to not even allow me to possess my pistol in public empty.
No wonder you feel like you’re on your own.