I recently found out that the Berlin Police Department has submitted a grant application for a Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck (BEARCAT). You may recall the Keene Police requested and received a similar armored vehicle after citing Pumpkin Fest and the Clarence Del Mar marathon as reasons for the needing a vehicle to be used to fight terrorism. And more recently, the Concord PD claiming “Sovereign Citizens, Free Staters and Occupy New Hampshire are active and present daily challenges,” in addition to organized groups, it cited “several homegrown clusters that are anti-government and pose problems for law enforcement agencies.” When asked to provide documentation of the “daily challenges” presented, the Concord City Clerk responded that there were no such documents.
In North Country, the Berlin PD’s application, which is full of spelling errors, cites 1) proximity to Canada; 2) terrorists coming in from Canada; 3) Carl Drega; and 4) Nathaniel Kibby as reasons for needing the vehicle. (more…)
The Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter-Attack Truck has come up again as a topic of discussion in Keene. The City Council recently voted to table a proposal by Terry Clark to return the BEARCAT. The following letter has been published by the Keene Sentinel as a letter to the editor, and has also been submitted to the City Council as an official correspondence, and should be on the agenda for the next Council meeting (Sept 18).
In the wake of the protests in Ferguson, Mo., the federal government has begun reconsidering the programs that give away military equipment to local law-enforcement. Sen. Claire McCaskill said police responses like that in Ferguson have “become the problem instead of the solution.” (more…)
On August 6th police departments across the states held “national night out” to try to better community relations.
I stopped by the Keene police department. Present was the BEARCAT – which was brought to town last year despite the overwhelming pushback from townsfolks who said “Thanks but no tanks!”
Right now, just an hour or so to the north, so-claimed “public officials” in Concord are attempting to do the same.
But hey – at least some folks at the LENCO plant down in Pitsfield, MA have jobs right?
They’re staying busy cranking out these vehicles. Thanks to federal money from the misnamed Department of Homeland Security – BEARCATS are now in 300 towns.
A DHS grant – which, to be clear, is coin stolen from taxpayers – also provided a mobile command center to the Cheshire County sheriffs – the outfit now headed by former Keene police employee Eli Rivera.
I was hopeful that I could finally have a conversation with someone who has thus far, played hard to get since my time in Keene.
Despite a number of attempts to initiate a convo, or even just get a reciprocal “hello” or “good afternoon” Ken Meola has steadfastly refused to engage. Perhaps today, in public, things would be different.
The Concord (NH) PD has applied for a Lenco BEARCAT, according to the Union Leader, the application states “Groups such as the Sovereign Citizens, Free Staters and Occupy New Hampshire are active and present daily challenges,” in addition to organized groups, it cited “several homegrown clusters that are anti-government and pose problems for law enforcement agencies.”
The NHCLU Executive Director Devon Chaffee said, “It’s far from clear to us why an armored vehicle would be necessary to address what are generally, by and large, non-violent movements that in fact provide little or no threat to the security of our state.”
Thanks to Devon Chaffee of the NHCLU, I now have a copy of the application, which is being posted for the world to see! (more…)
