The La Plata County Sheriff Office’s new tactical multipurpose response and rescue vehicle, which was recently unveiled to La Plata County commissioners during their annual tour of the La Plata County Jail, has led some to question the need for such a vehicle.
There are four to six calls a year in Durango and La Plata County that rise to the level of sending a SWAT team in an armored vehicle, according the Sheriff’s Office.
“A callout in April involved a person who shot into a vehicle with two occupants,” said sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Burke in an email. “The suspect also had a grenade and was holding a hostage.”
The incident occurred in Towaoc on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation. A team consisting of officers from the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office and the Durango Police Department were dispatched after the Bureau of Indian Affairs reached out for assistance.
County commissioners made clear when reviewing the new tactical vehicle that it could be deployed outside the county through agreements with other agencies.
The team deployed to Towaoc in April were in one of the Sheriff’s Office’s older armored vehicles and was on scene for six hours before command chose to “disengage” and the suspect was later contacted and the hostage released unharmed, Burke said.
The Sheriff’s Office previously had two armored tactical vehicles on loan from the U.S. military, a ‘peacekeeper’ received in 1999 that was built in 1983, and an MRAP received in 2014 that was built in 2012. Those vehicles were returned recently to the National Law Enforcement Support Office.
Legislation changed in 2019 to not allow former armored military vehicles on the roadways and an attempt to gain an exemption for law enforcement failed, Burke said in his email.
The new $350,000 Ford F-550 6.7-liter power stroke tactical vehicle, which was specially built in Ontario, Canada, and delivered to the Sheriff’s Office in January, is not only street legal, it is capable of traveling 80 mph. The smaller of the two previous military tactical vehicles tapped out at 40 mph.
Setting aside the capabilities and protection the new vehicle provides for officers, the price tag comes into perspective when longevity is considered, Burke said.
“The patrol cars used by the office, on average cost $70,000 and have maybe a two- or three-year life span,” Burke said. “The new civilian type armored vehicle has a 15- to 20-year life span and is more economical to operate than the average patrol car over time.”
The Sheriff’s Office had requested $687,940 in funding from county commissioners to purchase two tactical multipurpose response and rescue vehicles. Commissioners approved funding for this first one out of their usual funding cycle to ensure the safety of law enforcement, Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton has said previously.
In its request for the vehicle funds, the Sheriff’s Office wrote that the communities in La Plata County and the surrounding areas “face a number of significant threats to their residents and critical infrastructure. These threats, such as terrorism, natural disasters, violent crime, and mass shootings require our first responders to be constantly prepared for any critical incidents that may occur in the area.”
The letter also pointed to recent threats from wildfires that required spur-of-the-moment evacuations from hard-to-reach areas where the vehicles could prove invaluable.
“In order for the team to effectively carry out our mission to protect the citizens and critical infrastructure of the region, we must have sufficient equipment to do the job,” the letter stated. “At this time, however, we lack access to response vehicles capable of meeting our needs for responding to catastrophic incidents such as natural disasters and terrorist attacks, performing rescues and evacuations in adverse conditions, or for protecting the team and civilians from ballistic attacks.”
Yes, that is not a typo – “ballistic attacks.” So, what exactly does this new tactical vehicle offer? Here is a quick rundown of its specifications.
- Hardened walls and blast proof windows that protect passengers from ballistic and projectile threats.
- Four-wheel drive off-road capability, with added ability to run on flat tires.
- Heightened ground clearance to maneuver over debris in the aftermath of natural disasters, and navigate landslides and flooded areas. It can carry 12 officers in full tactical gear or 20 civilians in need of rescue.
- Ballistic armor to protect anyone inside or behind the vehicle up to and including .308 armor piercing ammunition.
- Remote control camera with zoom capable of providing lighting in darkened areas and assisting in search and rescue operations.
- Onboard camera system that monitors all sides of the truck simultaneously.
- Attachable spear-point battering ram.
- Protective top turret, winch, loudspeakers.
- Inexpensive to service and maintain.
The letter to commissioners seeking vehicle funding pointed out the geographical and tactical isolation of La Plata County, a 1,700-square-mile region filled with rugged terrain; not to mention the areas it covers through mutual-aid agreements with San Juan, Dolores, Archuleta and Montezuma counties.
In closing, the letter stated that having two vehicles to support each other “adds a critical layer of protection to the region’s infrastructure and soft targets from terrorist attacks or other threats.”
gjaros@durangoherald.com
An earlier version of this story misstated one of the specs about the Ford F-550 6.7-liter power stroke tactical vehicle.
