The Toronto police board is set to debate whether to accept a private donation for the purchase of a new armoured vehicle, the Star has learned — controversial machinery typically used by the military but increasingly obtained by municipal forces.

The proposed gift is expected to be debated at the Toronto Police Services Board meeting later this month, according to a source with knowledge of the donation who was not authorized to speak on the record.

Toronto police spokesperson Allison Sparkes confirmed to the Star that the force is requesting the board review a proposal for a new armoured vehicle but would not say who has offered to make the donation that would make it possible.

That information is expected to be made public by the police board on Tuesday, Sparkes said in response to questions sent by the Star on Monday.

If the donation is approved, the new machinery would replace the service’s 14-year-old armoured vehicle, which cannot be maintained or refurbished because the manufacturer is out of business, Sparkes said.

But the proposed acquisition has critics worried about creeping “militarization” — particularly given technological advancements made in the years since Toronto police obtained their last vehicle.

“There’s a whole trend of greater weaponization of the service without a single, solid, well-researched, independently verified business case that justifies these things,” said Alok Mukherjee, who was the chair of the Toronto police board from 2005 to 2015.

He referenced the recent move to equip more officers with Tasers and last week’s revelation that Toronto police tested controversial facial recognition technology.

“This is hugely disturbing — but at the same time it’s consistent with the direction in which Toronto police have been moving,” he said.

Sparkes said the armoured vehicle is used by the service’s tactical unit, the Emergency Task Force. Given its mandate to respond to dynamic public safety situations, she said that having “the most up-to-date technology and equipment is critical.”

As required by its donation policy, any gift worth more than $10,000 must be approved by the Toronto police board. The cost of a new armoured vehicle varies, but they retail in the hundreds of thousands of dollars; after a heated debate last year, Halifax city council approved the purchase of an armoured vehicle for $500,000.

Within the last decade, a growing number of municipal police services in Canada have either acquired — via the military — or purchased their own armoured vehicles, said Kevin Walby, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg whose research includes police equipment and tactical “SWAT” teams.

The police forces that have armoured vehicles in their fleets include Montreal, Halton region, Hamilton, Winnipeg and Waterloo. But despite their growing popularity, Walby said the utility of armoured vehicles is limited.

“A lot of times a SWAT team needs to enter a space quickly and with stealth. If they are serving a warrant, expecting return fire, they don’t want to be pulling up with a big clunky vehicle with ‘Police’ on it,” he said.

Walby noted there is pressure for police services to obtain new tools and technology, both because of a “keeping up with the Joneses” effect — if other services have certain equipment, a force may feel it needs the same — as well as the fact that armoured vehicles are becoming a “big industry in Canada.”

“We have these companies that specialize in armoured personnel and vehicles, (and) they traditionally did this for militaries but now they are morphing into these entities that sell to municipal police,” Walby said, noting companies attend police technology conferences and “are the biggest display on the floor.”

Police services themselves say the equipment is used in high-risk situations, including dangerous arrests, standoffs and conflicts with a suspect who has a weapon.

York Regional Police have owned an armoured vehicle for the past 10 years. Const. Laura Nicolle, a York police spokesperson, said the vehicle is often used as protection for officers and paramedics working during an incident.

“One of its primary functions would be for retrieval or rescue of victims from an active/unsafe situation,” she said in an email.

Among the most recent incidents in which York officers used their armoured vehicle was a violent standoff in December with a gunman who exchanged fire with police before barricading himself inside a Richmond Hill home. He was later arrested and charged with a slew of offences including attempted murder.

The Toronto police board has a specific policy, last updated in 2010, that outlines the procedure for donations.

Calling gifts to the police service a “valuable form of public support,” the policy states that donations must be subjected to a transparent process and cannot compromise “the integrity, impartiality or objectivity of the Service.”

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“It is critical that donations be consistent with the goals, objectives and priorities of the Service and that they be beneficial to the community at large,” the policy states.

Sparkes said the proposal for the donation is “in compliance with the policies and procedures of the police service, its board and the city.”

The police board meets Feb. 25.