Shawano County’s Public Safety Committee Wednesday put an end to the Sheriff’s Department’s plans to seek a mine resistant armored personnel carrier, known in shorthand as MRAP.
The vehicle had been a contentious issue in the race for sheriff, with incumbent Randy Wright promoting it as a safety tool for the department’s Special Response Team.
Sheriff-elect Adam Bieber, who defeated Wright in the August primary and the November election when Wright ran as a write-in, opposed the vehicle, calling it “excessive and impractical.”
The committee voted 4-0 to halt any further efforts to secure the vehicle.
“I would make a motion that it doesn’t happen in Shawano County because all the other counties are getting rid of them,” said Supervisor Bert Huntington, committee chairman.
Supervisor Richard Ferfecki said the public attitude has lately turned against military vehicles in the hands of law enforcement.
“It seems like the police departments that do have them, they’re getting a lot of heat from the citizens about getting too militarized,” he said.
Wright did not attend Wednesday’s meeting.
Bieber, who will take office on Jan. 5, attended the meeting, but did not comment about the MRAP.
The Sheriff’s Department would have gotten the vehicle by paying an annual $500 membership fee to Wisconsin Emergency Management (WEM), which would have allowed the department to obtain available military equipment.
The department had already been approved for the vehicle by WEM but also needed federal approval, which had not yet come through.
“It’s not on the way. We’ve never been approved to this point, anyhow,” said Chief Deputy John Gutho.
As proposed, the department would have paid transportation costs to deliver the vehicle from Texas, and would have paid for outfitting the vehicle with radios and other equipment. The cost would have been funded by asset forfeitures.
The department also would have paid an estimated $300 a year for maintenance, which would have been done by the county Highway Department.
The Sheriff’s Department currently borrows similar armored vehicles when needed from Brown and Marathon counties.
Categories
