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The Mountain View Police Department is about to augment its arsenal with the acquisition of an armored rescue vehicle, a first for the city.
The City Council unanimously approved the police department’s request to procure nearly $400,000 in military equipment at their May 13 meeting. The bulk of the expenditure is going towards the acquisition of a Terradyne Armored Rescue Vehicle that is estimated to cost $382,200.
Mountain View Police Chief Michael Canfield presented the item to the City Council, as part of an annual report mandated by state law that requires local law enforcement agencies to publicize the acquisition, cost and use of military equipment.
The big-ticket item this year is the armored rescue vehicle, Canfield said.
According to Canfield, the vast majority of law enforcement agencies with SWAT teams have their own armored rescue vehicle. “It’s because they bring so much value and safety in critical times,” Canfield said.
The vehicles typically are deployed in emergency situations when there is a risk of gunfire, violent confrontations or hazardous conditions. This could include active shooter events, dangerous rescues and natural disasters, the report said.
The armored rescue vehicle that the city intends to acquire is “not designed for traditional military use,” according to the report. The report describes the vehicle as built for a public safety purpose, “constructed on a standard Ford F-550 chassis.”
Currently, the Mountain View Police Department relies on outside law enforcement agencies for the use of an armored rescue vehicle, a situation that has led to problems in the past. “We have had times when there have been significant delays in receiving the vehicles,” Canfield said.
Canfield described a homicide incident two years ago in which officers had to enter a residence without the use of an armored vehicle. “It just wasn’t practical to wait multiple hours,” he said.
The department also had difficulty getting an armored vehicle three years ago when a police officer was shot in Mountain View, Canfield said.
Council member Emily Ann Ramos questioned whether the city could instead purchase an armored rescue vehicle as a shared resource with other jurisdictions.
Canfield did not support the idea, claiming that it would be logistically challenging to implement. “I’m not familiar with a circumstance in which it’s working well for any agencies,” he said.
The annual report also itemized less costly military equipment that the department plans to acquire, including ammunition, less-lethal projectiles, explosive breaching equipment, noise flash diversionary devices and chemical munitions.
Canfield noted that most of the items are intended to replace or replenish weapons used for training and certification purposes. Officers have been equipped with some of the items when in the field. “But that does not mean in this circumstance that any of them were fired or launched or were ignited,” he said.
Lane closures planned this weekend for El Camino Real overpass in Mountain ViewJanuary 23, 2026 1:32 pm
Stupid excuse for wasting money. .
An armored truck doesn’t help you get into a house. It gets you to the door. You’re not going to run the truck through the house otherwise it’ll fall down.
For the Officer shot, why did they need a truck? It was in Union city, surely for a shot police, cops all over the Bay Area would bend over to help them with an armored vehicle.
I cannot believe that there are multiple jurisdictions up and down the peninsula using armored trucks every day. You see nothing urgent in the police blotters.
Ramos is right here. Have a shared truck between sunnyvale and Santa Clara.
A $400k truck that sits in a parking lot 360 days a year.
Don’t forget, YOU voted for the people that rubber stamped this.
Used to be able to get them free from the military through the 1032 program, but no…. That there is a weapon of war!!!!
Will MVPD let other agencies use/borrow their expensive tank? If so, won’t we be back to the same issue if tank is needed while loaned to another agency?
Pretty sure you can rent one of these on Turo if you need it for the day
🙂
Such a waste of our taxpayer money. This monstrosity will sit idle for 99.9% of the time. Two examples cited and one was:
“Canfield described a homicide incident two years ago in which officers had to enter a residence without the use of an armored vehicle” …did they need the vehicle to smash into the residence?