No place in Berkeley for police armored car POLICE

Inside of Armored Vehicle at Concord Police Department, Concord, Calif on Thursday, July 5, 2012. Inside of Armored Vehicle at Concord Police Department, Concord, Calif on Thursday, July 5, 2012. Photo: Yue Wu, The Chronicle Photo: Yue Wu, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close No place in Berkeley for police armored car 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

It turns out that a massive, armor-plated vehicle rumbling around town as it wards off bad guys' bullets doesn't quite project the image that city and university leaders in Berkeley are shooting for.

Not that this should be much of a surprise - at least according to those who were initially surprised about the idea even coming up.

City and UC Berkeley officials announced Thursday that they, along with their counterparts in the city of Albany, have canceled a joint request for a $170,000 Armored Emergency Rescue Vehicle from a federally affiliated nonprofit group. Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said the big question wasn't whether local police could find such a vehicle useful - but why in the world the application was made to begin with.

"When we found out about this grant application we sort of went ballistic," Bates said Thursday. "I mean, why do we need this here in Berkeley, and why would we want to militarize our police force?"

Given the antiwar outlook of the oft-dubbed Republic of Berkeley, "It was a bad idea from the beginning," the mayor said.

The police chiefs of Albany, Berkeley and UC Berkeley jointly applied for the grant earlier this year. But when the city councils and university leaders last week learned of the application they - and several community groups -- began to oppose it. That led to Thursday's joint cancellation announcement by the three jurisdictions.

One main objection, said university spokeswoman Janet Gilmore, was "the look of the vehicle itself, the military style of it.

"In a university setting, it's not really appropriate."

Police tactics at the university came under fire in November when officers used batons to try to clear Occupy protesters from the campus. The university's faculty Academic Senate voted in December to condemn the handling of the protest, leaving administrators gun-shy about tactics.

The Berkeley Police Department did not return calls and an Albany Police Department spokesman declined comment.

UC Berkeley police Lt. Eric Tejadasaid it was "unfortunate" that the armored car won't be coming to his department, that the police have to follow the wishes of community leaders.

The vehicle grant was being offered by the Urban Areas Security Initiative, a nonprofit affiliated with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. A blocky, boxy affair, the vehicle has no weaponry and is meant only to transport officers safely in hazardous conditions such as gunfire.

"We do want our officers to be protected and safe," said Bates. "But that doesn't mean we have to own one. If we ever really need an armored vehicle, they're available."

Several cities in the Bay Area, including San Francisco and Oakland, already have such vehicles. And Concord recently picked one up for free from the Department of Defense's Logistics Agency Disposition Services, which handles military surplus material.

That vehicle was reconditioned by Concord police officers and local businesses, and unveiled to an enthusiastic public during the city's July Fourth parade. Police spokesman Lt. David Hughes said it is available for mutual aid to Berkeley and other cities if needed, and called it "an absolutely great vehicle."

"In our environment, we wouldn't have as much need for it as some other areas, but if you don't have it and there is significant gunfire - you really do need it," he said. Many high-powered weapons used by criminals can shoot right through the average sedan, he said, adding, "Squatting down beside a squad car doesn't cut it.

"It's very humbling how exposed you are when someone's shooting at you," Hughes said. "Believe me, I've been there."