Last fall, his deputies picked up a desert-khaki-colored, six-wheel-drive, 37,000-pound rig that had recently been returned to the U.S. from war in good shape with about 7,000 miles on it.

The Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armored vehicle can cost upward of $250,000. Wagner got it for $1,500.

“It definitely garnered attention on the highway,” he recalled his deputies saying.

He had had his eye on an armored vehicle before and had tried for two years to get a grant for one. Then he learned about the 1033 Program, which offered a more timely solution for very little money.

“Could we get by without a ballistic vehicle?" he asked. "Yes."

But now, the sheriff said, he has the armored vehicle's ballistic capabilities and can respond to the worst-case scenario of a fallen deputy.

If a deputy serving civil papers at a farmstead were to get shot, for example, backup officers could be at risk if they pulled up in a cruiser, which isn’t bullet-proof.

The FBI in Omaha and the Nebraska State Patrol have armored vehicles, but they aren’t always close or available, Wagner said.