Santa Cruz Tells Militarized Police to GIVE BACK THE BEARCAT

GIVE BACK THE BEARCAT RALLY
Santa Cruz community members call of the City Council to return the Armored Military Vehicle and make the grant process transparent.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2015
Santa Cruz City Council, 809 Center Street, Santa Cruz

Concerned community members will hold a  rally to stop the increased militarization of the police force and growing threats to the civil
liberties of all who make Santa Cruz their home. A coalition of community groups are asking that the BearCat grant be returned to Homeland Security and that police and other agencies notify the council and the public before applying for grants using a law modeled on the ACLU's Surveillance and Community Safety Ordinance.

Santa Cruz City Council  rushed a vote to except a $251,293.00 Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck or BearCat on December 9, 2014. This follows the acceptance of grants for License Plate Reading Cameras, also rushed without public input. The council is also passing a number of laws criminalizing the poor including this Tuesday's vote on the expansion of a stay-away order for minor infractions at city parks and beaches.

The Santa Cruz Police Department  began the application process for the
BearCat in the Fall of 2013. The grant was approved in  May, 2014.
That's seven months before City Council learned about the grant. SCPD
notified the City Manager in May, 2014 and the City Manager didn't tell
City Council until December 2, 2014 by
putting what they listed as a "Rescue Vehicle" on the consent agenda.
Local residence learned of the true nature of this vehicle the night
before the City Council was set to vote and sent out a call for the
public to respond. It was taken off the consent agenda by Don Lane and
19 people spoke out against the armored military vehicle.

Department of Homeland Security's Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI)
has been providing grants for Armored Military Vehicles like those used
against protesters this fall in cities across the United States. Several
communities like Berkeley have rejected the grants. Santa Cruz is not
the only city to be surprised by the accusation of an Armored Military
Vehicle. Local residence from New England to California have discovered
that their town has been the recipient of a Homeland Security grant to
buy military equipment often without an opportunity for public input.

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