Published April 15, 2008 08:13 pm - A budget-conscious Conneaut Police Department is ready to part with an armor-plated member of its crime-fighting fleet.
Insurance cost scuttles Conneaut SWAT ‘tank’
CONNEAUT — A budget-conscious Conneaut Police Department is ready to part with an armor-plated member of its crime-fighting fleet.
The department has officially taken out of service the surplus armored personnel carrier (APC) it obtained in 2003 and transformed into a response vehicle for its special weapons and tactics team, Police Chief Jon Arcaro said Tuesday.
Cost of insuring the tracked vehicle made it expendable, Arcaro said. The city spends a few thousand dollars each year for liability coverage, he said.
“I’ve always been under the impression (the vehicle) didn’t cost us a lot of money,” he said. “When (the insurance cost) was brought to my attention, I wasn’t in favor of keeping it.”
A police radio already has been removed from the APC, and other equipment and department decals will follow, Arcaro said.
Since it arrived in September 2003, the vehicle had never been used in a single incident, officials said.
The city of Conneaut obtained the vehicle at no cost through a government program that puts decommissioned military hardware into the hands of local safety departments and organizations. Donations helped paint the vehicle and affix it with lettering.
The state agency that helped arrange its delivery has been told the city no longer wants it. The state will arrange a new owner for the vehicle, possibly the police department in Rittman, officials said.
Conneaut was the first police department to obtain a personnel carrier for police use, Arcaro said. Since then, departments in Andover and Ashtabula have acquired similar vehicles, he said.
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