Advertisement Marina City Council approves armored vehicle for police force Share Shares Copy Link Copy

The Marina City Council unanimously approved a plan Tuesday night to acquire a military armored vehicle for its police force.Marina will likely get an MRAP vehicle, which stands for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected. MRAPs were used in Afghanistan and Iraq by the U.S. military. Due to a current surplus, the federal government is offering them to local police departments for free.Marina works with six other law enforcement agencies in a joint SWAT task force. Marina Police Chief Edmundo Rodriguez said they will share that armored vehicle with the other six agencies."This is not for general use, it's for specific use to have available during a critically violent or potentially violent situation in which we have to call out the SWAT team," Rodriguez said.Opponents to armored vehicles, such as the ACLU, warn about a militarization of police forces and creating a culture of fear."The role of local police is for protection, not for combat. These are combat weapons. When the local police use weapons of this kind or vehicles of this kind, it causes a rift between the community and the police. It interferes with the trust," Monterey County ACLU volunteer Michelle Welsh said.KSBW asked law enforcement agencies across the Central Coast how often armored vehicle have been deployed.Del Rey Oaks has not deployed its vehicle at all since getting it last year, meaning, no other communities on the peninsula have used it either.Santa Cruz police sent its BearCat out twice this year, including during a standoff with a suicidal man. The Monterey County Sheriff's Office has sent theirs out 15 times.Action News asked Salinas police for the number of uses for their armored vehicle, but did not hear back.When KSBW asked Rodriguez why they need another armored vehicle, despite having the Del Rey Oaks vehicle nearby. He said, logistically, in a SWAT situation, it takes too much time to go through a different agency."The need for it is really response time, logistics, and the fact that it is a SWAT team," Rodriguez said.Rodriguez hopes to have the armored vehicle ready in six months.Marina will join Del Rey Oaks as the only two Monterey Peninsula cities with armored vehicles.