Armored Vehicles

Mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles (MRAP), produced by Navistar International, are loaded onto an airplane at the Charleston Air Force Base in North Charleston, S.C. in this Nov. 28, 2007 file photo. The military is buying thousands of MRAPs to guard troops in Iraq and Afghanistan from deadly roadside bombs. These hulking machines - at about $450,000 a pop - rely on their heft and creative design to bull their way through blasts that can cripple Humvees. (AP Photos/Alice Keeney, File)

(Alice Keeney)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - While the Syracuse Police Department's SWAT team awaited the arrival of its own 9-ton BearCat armored vehicle, an even bigger and better crime-fighting tank came along.

The U.S. Department of Defense has given the city of Syracuse a mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle like the ones used in Iraq to protect soldiers from IED attacks.

The so-called "MRAP" is a $658,000 terrorist fighting machine given to cities and counties all over the country through a military surplus program.

It is almost three times more expensive than the BearCat armored vehicle- a piece of equipment whose need has already been questioned for a city the size of Syracuse.

Search nationwide database to see who gets military surplus equipment (below)

Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh already has a BearCat and the city police have been accused of buying a second one simply because the two agencies are unable to share toys.

Now, the community has a third tank-like vehicle.

DeWitt Police Chief Gene Conway, who won the election for Onondaga County Sheriff earlier this month, said he was not aware the city had a new MRAP.

It was delivered Aug. 23, 2013 and has been stored since then without being called into action. Syracuse police declined to show it to a reporter.

Lt. Daniel Belgrader, commander of the Syracuse Police Department's tactical team, said the MRAP is needed to protect officers under fire and to rescue citizens in high-risk situations. It is not armed, he said.

Police do not intend to use it for crowd control.

"With the amount of shootings and gun arrests and weapons that we're encountering on a daily basis, it's really a necessary piece of equipment to keep people safe," he said.

The BearCat can be parked near an active crime scene as a rallying point, in case officers come under fire. But it can also be driven up to a building to rescue civilians or negotiate in a hostage situation, police said.

The city was using the county's BearCat more often than the county uses it. The sheriff's office said in 2013 that the city was using it about 12 times per year compared to about 8 times per year for the sheriff.

But city police said the county's BearCat is not always available to the city on a moment's notice. It is housed in Camillus and Onondaga County also loans it to other counties.

The Syracuse Common Council in August 2013 approved the use of $123,000 in federal grants as the first fund-raising toward the purchase of a city-owned BearCat. But the city used that money for camera equipment and instead used seized drug money to order the new BearCat, police said.

It cost $234,000, police said.

The BearCat arrived at the end of October and has already been used once - on a recent drug-related search warrant where the suspect was known to possess a handgun and a rifle, police said.

But even before the BearCat arrived, the MRAP came along.

That piece of equipment can be used in addition to the BearCat to provide more support and another angle at a scene. But police said it will not be called in as often.

"We plan on keeping it for a situation where there is a dire need," Belgrader said.

Syracuse is one of hundreds of local governments on the approved list to receive surplus U.S. military equipment through something called the 1033 Program.

It was first approved by Congress as a drug-fighting program, but has been expanded to include all police activity with a preference on counter-drug and counter-terrorism, according to the Defense Logistics Agency, which runs the program.

The program has supplied cities, towns and counties and the state police with leftover war supplies from airplanes to reflective tape.

The federal government has given about $26.5 million in surplus military gear to 124 local agencies and the NYS police, according to records on file with the NYS Department of Criminal Justice Services, which serves as state coordinator.

State police have been given two airplanes and a helicopter.

Nine local governments in New York were given MRAPs, records show.

The others are in Rochester, Plattsburgh, the town of Hamburg and the counties of Albany, Jefferson Steuben, Warren and Nassau, records show.

Belgrader said state officials wanted to place the MRAPs in strategic locations across the state and in places with functioning SWAT teams.

"They encouraged cities to take them," he said.

Local governments continue to stock up on war equipment even as the conversation about militarization of police reaches new heights. Last summer, after the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer in Ferguson, MO, police approached protesters with BearCats and guns.

There have been Senate hearings on the need for such heavy equipment in city police forces.

On the other side, U.S. Homeland Security officials testified that the gear helped in the hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers.

The issue came up in the race for sheriff in Onondaga County. Both candidates said the tools were necessary, but questioned whether BearCats were needed in both Syracuse and Onondaga County.

Conway, who won the election to replace Walsh, said before the election that it was "ridiculous" to have two pieces of equipment.

"It's a waste of money," he said.

When asked if he would sell the county's BearCat, Conway said he would instead start a discussion about why the two agencies saw a need for separate pieces of equipment.

Opponent Toby Shelley, a retired sheriff's sergeant, said the answer is simple.

"We have two BearCats because Kevin Walsh and (Syracuse Police Chief) Frank Fowler couldn't get along," Shelley said.

While the new sheriff talks about the old BearCat, the community has already added a bigger third vehicle.

Conway was surprised. He said he does not buy the idea that the county's BearCat is not available for the city given how seldom it is in use. He also believes the city and county could have agreed on a closer place to store it, if proximity is the problem.

"It's an area that, as sheriff, I would be willing to talk about sharing a piece of equipment," he said.

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