Idaho Falls City Council has approved the purchase of a Lenco BearCat G3 for the Idaho Falls Police Department after a rise in violent crimes in the city.

The BearCat is an armored vehicle the IFPD uses but shares with the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office. It will cost $411,097.00, but $400,000 will come from the American Rescue Plan Act, and $11,097 will come from the IFPD’s budget.

The BearCat will allow up to 10 to 12 fully equipped personnel to travel inside. IFPD Deputy Chief Jeremy Galbreaith said the armored vehicle would not have any offensive capabilities to ensure the officers’ safety.

“The key to it is the armor ... having that protection and making sure to keep our team safe behind that armor is essential to performing these operations and getting everyone home safe,” Galbreaith said.

Councilwoman Michelle Ziel-Dingman said when the project was submitted to the ARPA committee for approval, she was surprised to learn about the IFPD’s recent encounters that have resulted in gunfire.

“A few years ago, when we had the discussion, it did seem it (BearCat) wouldn’t be put into much use as much as perhaps it might. There were some thoughts that we weren’t ready for it,” Ziel-Dingman said.

Galbreaith said that over the past four months, there have been three incidents in which SWAT has been deployed to incidents. The most recent was the EconoLodge shooting involving suspect Robert Alan Flores Jr.

Since December, Flores has been responsible for three separate SWAT incidents in where two of them had involved an armored vehicle to be used in his arrest.

“As the community grows, the potential for these threats continue to increase,” Galbreaith said. “Ten years ago, it wasn’t very common for officers to encounter suspects and take fire, but it’s becoming more and more common, unfortunately.”

Galbreaith said this is why the IFPD is now looking to own its own armored vehicle instead of asking for the BCSO’s. He said there had been times when the county’s SWAT team and the police department’s SWAT team had been deployed simultaneously, meaning the armored vehicle was occupied.