BANGOR, Maine — The City Council will consider next week whether police may purchase an armored vehicle and if officers should carry Narcan nasal spray, an overdose antidote, after separate committees Monday night recommended the expenditures be approved.
The department can afford the $208,772 armored vehicle within its current budget because of savings from lower health insurance premiums and lower fuel prices, Police Chief Mark Hathaway told the Finance Committee.
“This vehicle will protect our officers when they are engaged in violent confrontations,” Hathaway said.
The department is considering purchasing a new vehicle made for police use by a firm in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, not a used piece of military equipment, the chief told the committee.
The chief said the department’s only choice now is to borrow an armored vehicle from Maine State Police in Augusta.
Hathaway cited a Feb. 8, 2015, six-hour standoff on Union Street as an example of a violent incident that might have been resolved sooner had the department not had to wait for the state police vehicle to arrive.
Councilor Gibran Graham told committee members that the Park Street standoff on July 4, 2013, also was an instance where police might have been safer and resolved the incident more quickly if they’d had an armored vehicle.
“They could have taken care of this situation more expeditiously and gotten a team in place without being in harm’s way,” he said. “I see no reason for us not to protect them.”
The armored vehicle is about the size of an ambulance, would be painted white and could be maintained by the city’s motor pool, Hathaway said.
No committee or council members opposed the purchase, but several audience members questioned it.
Jensen Cook of Orono told the committee the money would be better spent addressing the issues of homelessness, mental health and drug rehabilitation.
“I’m opposed to police militarization in general,” Kimberly Hammill of Bangor said after the meeting ended. “There are other issues on the table I’d like to see addressed like addiction. That would be a much better use of our tax dollars than arming ourselves.”
Hammill arrived after the Finance Committee had recommended the vehicle be purchased but said she had made her views known at other meetings.
Hathaway told committee members before the vote that he recognized there was concern about militarization of the department.
“This purchase won’t do that,” he said. “This won’t change our tactics. We will always be looking for a peaceful resolution.”
After the Finance Committee met, the Government Operations Committee recommended Hathaway take steps that would allow officers to carry nasal Narcan.
The police chief said that officers responding to a request for welfare checks sometimes find a person “in medical distress due to an overdose-related issue. It is our desire to provide officers with this lifesaving option which can be deployed as EMS is responding.”
The proposal calls for the Police Department to develop a partnership with Bangor Public Health and Penobscot Community Health Care for training and dispensing the drug.
The City Council will consider the issues as part of its regular meeting Monday.