The Brunswick Town Council approved on Tuesday night the $380,000 purchase of an armored vehicle to replace its police department’s old, unreliable one, despite concerns from the community.
The town had been considering the purchase since February, and eventually sent it to the finance committee for consideration. The finance committee endorsed it while also suggesting that the town find other ways to pay for it.
The council voted 7-2 in favor of purchasing the vehicle, with councilors Nathan MacDonald and Jennifer Hicks dissenting.
Hicks and MacDonald both cited an outpouring of concern from Brunswick residents who oppose the purchase of the armored vehicle, which would be a model called the Lenco Bearcat. At the first public hearing regarding the vehicle, about a dozen citizens spoke out against the purchase, either because of the high cost or the fear of militarizing the town of 20,000’s police force.
“It is unconscionable to me to go against the wishes of the people,” MacDonald said at Tuesday’s meeting. “That’s what I swore an oath to do.”
Council Chair Abby King said though she knows there will be consequences for voting against the wishes of Brunswick residents, she’s ready to face them. She said she would regret voting against the purchase if the police department was ever unable to save someone’s life because it didn’t have it.
“As a mom, I can’t imagine being in that position of making that choice and having it result in a situation like that,” King said at the meeting.
The police department will be applying for at least three grants to help pay for the Bearcat, Police Chief Scott Stewart said at the meeting. The funds are coming from the department’s vehicle replacement reserve fund and will not affect the local tax rate.
The town is replacing the vehicle because its current one, a model called the Peacekeeper, is old and unreliable. Stewart said in a February interview that he wasn’t even sure it would start when it was deployed during the manhunt following the Lewiston shooting last fall.
The Bearcat should last the town 20 years, Stewart said at the meeting. In addition to serving the town of Brunswick, it has also been deployed to other communities around the region.
