The same day the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office announced it had enough funding to purchase a Sno-Cat rescue vehicle, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that will allow the office to buy an armored tactical vehicle, known as a BearCat.

The executive order signed Monday would once again allow local and state police agencies to acquire surplus military gear. The order rolls back a 2015 policy under the Obama administration, which severely limited the program after public outcry on how the equipment was used by police during protests in Ferguson, Missouri, following the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday that those restrictions went too far. He said the new approach will boost public safety.

Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said he was happy with Trump’s order.

He said this type of equipment is essential for local law enforcement to do their job, especially with threats of foreign and domestic terrorism.

Honsal said that while some people believe police forces should not be militarized, he said they already are locally with equipment like bullet-proof vests, rifles and other equipment.

“We are the first line of defense. We are facing things now that we never thought we would before,” Honsal said.

However, Honsal also said there is a balance.

He said that while the federal program has allowed them to obtain helmets and patrol rifles in the past, he said they don’t need tanks rolling through Humboldt County or a gunship to patrol the bay.

The sheriff’s office has been attempting to obtain a BearCat — which stands for Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck — for about a year-and-a-half, Honsal said. Honsal said the vehicle is particularly effective for active-shooter situations.

A BearCat from Mendocino County was used in August 2016 during a 17-hour standoff in McKinleyville with 59-year-old David Alan Fulton who was fatally shot by law enforcement after firing at deputies.

The standoff prompted the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors to provide $175,000 in Measure Z tax revenues to go along with about $120,000 the sheriff’s office received from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to buy the BearCat.

But Honsal said the Obama administration’s restrictions in 2015 caused the federal funding to sit in a kind of bureaucratic limbo for about a year-and-a-half. Trump’s order now immediately makes that funding available, Honsal said. The sheriff’s office plans to place their order soon and will receive the bulletproof vehicle within four to five months.

Fortuna Police Chief Bill Dobberstein said he also supported Trump’s order despite the department not having requested any equipment for the past decade.

“I am pleased that law enforcement, which could truly utilize this equipment, can get back and obtain some of this surplus equipment,” Dobberstein said.

Obama’s order in 2015 restricted police forces from obtaining equipment such as grenade launchers, bayonets, tracked-armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft and vehicles, and firearms and ammunition of .50-caliber or higher.

Dobberstein said he has never heard of a police force requesting a grenade launcher in his 23 years in law enforcement, though he facetiously said he wouldn’t mind if his department was able to get a helicopter.

Officials from the Eureka, Rio Dell, Arcata and Humboldt State University police departments stated they currently do not have plans to request military-grade equipment.

In March 2016, the Eureka City Council unanimously backed the EPD’s request to return the Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected armored personnel carrier received from the Department of Defense for free in 2013. The vehicle was never used locally, however shipping was estimated to be $5,000.

No one was available to provide comment at the California Highway Patrol headquarters in Sacramento because of a fatal police-involved shooting that had occurred in Sacramento.

Attempts to reach Ferndale Police Chief Bret Smith were not returned by Wednesday afternoon.

Will Houston can be reached at 707-441-0504.