Sacramento’s $439K police ‘Rook’ sits unused nearly 2 years after controversial purchase | Opinion
Back in early 2023, the Sacramento City Council voted 7-2 to use a federal grant to buy its police department a “Rook,” a heavily armored vehicle that moves on tracks and can load officers as gunners onto a moveable platform. The purchase was approved despite numerous objections from residents and community activists.
People who are not military experts could be viably confused about what terminology to use when faced with such a vehicle, but the city emphatically insisted it was not a tank, it was “a tractor with a shield and a platform.”
(They say potato, I say po-tank-o.)
But as it turns out, in the nearly two years since the police department bought it —https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article297187329.html#campaignName=sacramento_breaking_newsletter
According to the police, the Rook vehicle they bought 23 months ago “is still being outfitted by the city’s fleet services, and we are not yet in possession of it,” Sgt. Dan Wiseman, a police spokesman, said in an email to The Bee.
“Additionally, there is supplemental equipment associated with the Rook that is also undergoing work, including the vehicle(s) used to transport it.”
So, not only did we use $439,894 for a massive, militarized, glorified ladder on tank treads — but it didn’t even come ready to use? What a lemon.
History of controversy
That council vote back in February 2023 was a particularly elucidating moment for many voters, particularly in District 5, who had recently elected Councilmember Caity Maple to office.
In May 2021, Hannah Holzer of The Bee Editorial board quoted Maple saying that “Militarizing the police force has become normal, [and] the more normal it becomes, the more equipment they add on.”
Maple then shared the quote and Holzer’s column on social media site, X.
When she ran for office in 2022, Maple’s opposition to further militarizing the police was a deciding factor in her landing The Bee’s endorsement.
So imagine our surprise when she turned around and voted to approve the military-style vehicle despite everything she had said before; especially when authorizing “The Rook” did not even require her vote to pass.
“I do not support tanks being used by our police force, and I purposely chose not to accept law enforcement contributions on the campaign trail because I wanted the community to know that I would make unbiased decisions related to the police,” Maple wrote in an explanatory op-ed to The Bee, shortly after the vote.
“Voting for the Rook is not a repudiation of my stated beliefs,” she added, without expanding on that statement any further.
The only two city council members who voted no were District 8’s Mai Vang and now-former council member for District 4, Katie Valenzuela., both of whom have faced opposition for questioning the police budget.
Police made threats, excuses to obtain
That controversial vote also came just days after the killing of former Sacramento resident Tyre Nichols by Memphis police, when Sacramentans were understandably emotional about the use of excessive police force by the nation’s increasingly militarized law enforcement.
Champion-level failures at reading the room, Sacramento Police insisted that they needed their own Rook because over the last five years, they had borrowed the Sacramento Sheriff’s Rook some 10 times.
Law enforcement officials advocated for the Rook by making, “thinly veiled references” to Sacramento resident Alexander Francis Hoch, who had begun harassing and threatening former Mayor Darrell Steinberg, Talamantes Vang and Valenzuela. (Hoch was later jailed for those threats and was recently released.)
At that time, Valenzuela said publicly that she felt the officers’ references to Hoch were meant to stir up fear in the council to get their votes, a tactic the police department has employed, particularly at budget time.
“It felt incredibly manipulative and unrelated to the conversation at hand, (and appeared to be) an attempt to target people who have already been targeted,” Valenzuela said.
Absolutely useless
Police Chief Kathy Lester got her expensive ladder on tank treads, I hope she’s happy.
Honestly though, I hope more that it has an entirely useless life, sitting in a police warehouse somewhere, where it can’t be used to harass citizens. Though, as it sits rotting, it costs the city approximately $8,000 per year to maintain, over an expected lifespan of about 25 years.
Hey, maybe Sac PD should replace the seal in the middle of police badges with a picture of their Rook? It’s become the symbol of their department: A poor return on investment with no demonstrable benefit.
