It is the biggest tool, by far, in the arsenal of Lebanon County’s law enforcement officers to de-escalate an active crime scene.
It is also designed to protect the officers and non-offenders whose lives may be at risk.
And it happens to be a PR “vehicle” that helps bridge the gap between officers and residents they serve.
“It” is Lebanon County’s BearCat, a massive, 17,550-pound armored vehicle that’s been in service to Lebanon County’s SWAT team for two years. The SWAT team consists of volunteer members from police departments from across the Lebanon Valley.
Massachusetts-based manufacturer Lenco writes on their website that the vehicle can accommodate two to ten SWAT members. Lebanon County purchased their unit and put it into service in February 2023.
The impetus for its purchase, in part, followed in the wake of Lt. William Lebo’s shooting in March 2022.
The vehicle’s $250,000-plus price tag was paid for via a public safety grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, according to Pier Hess-Graf, district attorney for Lebanon County, and approved unanimously for purchase by Lebanon County Commissioners in May 2022.
Hess Graf expressed to LebTown her gratitude for Senator Chris Gebhard’s assistance in helping to secure the state grant.
“So there was, I would say, a two-fold huge push as a result of what happened to Lt. Lebo,” Hess Graf said. “I truly believe that was an incident where a vehicle like the BearCat should have been used and had we had one, it probably would have been used. And I think looking back, that night and getting through the next 10 days was the worst experience I’ve ever had in this office.”
The grief experienced through that horrific event by the county’s law enforcement community was a driving force to find a way to raise the funding to purchase the vehicle, which previously was “a pipe dream” given its hefty price tag, according to Hess Graf.
“I think part of my job is to try to go out and get every tool we can for Lebanon County, whether it’s civilians, community organizations or police,” she said. “I was determined after that incident that the good that was going to come out of this was a BearCat that was going to keep cops safe and people safe, and we were going to name it Unit 121 after Lt. Lebo’s badge.”
Hess Graf said the BearCat might have made a difference on the day Lebo died.
“What we try to do after every incident is we sit down and how do we do this better the next time and what do we do differently the next time – and we do that with trials as well as tactical maneuvers,” she said. “I don’t want to speak for the SWAT team, I have no control over tactical training, decisions, things like that.
“But what we found with the BearCat and what we are trained on with the BearCat, including from the day we picked it up, is really what you’re supposed to look at that vehicle as: a de-escalation tactic. So when you look at that vehicle pulling up to the front of your house, it obviously has different capabilities. It has a different size. It has just a much more impressive presence than a marked, typical patrol car with lights on top of it.”
The capabilities of the BearCat as an armored vehicle that’s built on a Ford pick-up super heavy duty chassis is a difference maker compared to other law enforcement vehicles.
“When that BearCat shows up in the front of your house, either you’re coming out or we’re going in, and we’re not coming in on foot with vests and shields,” said Hess Graf. “We’re coming in, if we have to, with a battering ram, and that thing can take brick down, it can take concrete down if we need to.
“A fortunate aspect of using it, and we have been called out to scenes where we had concerns about, is the person going to submit peacefully? Is the person alone in the house? Is that person a danger to himself or others or the police? When we pull up in that vehicle and we say, ‘We are the police, we are here for you, we have a warrant for you, come out,’ they all come out. And I think that’s the difference: you see the capability of law enforcement before you’re ever face-to-face with law enforcement.”
Fortunately, it has only been deployed a few times since being put into active service and its ramming capabilities have never been utilized.
To be activated into service, an officer – most likely a police chief or his designee – makes a request to county dispatch and the county’s SWAT team members are notified to respond to the call. Some of those members are Lebanon County detectives.
“I think it’s a safer thing for the suspect. I think it’s a safer thing for the police. Because if they’re willing to peacefully submit, it ends the entire incident,” said Hess Graf. “It’s done, and you don’t have any type of violence or any type of violent altercation.”
De-escalation is the preferred method to end an active crime scene but not the only option available when the BearCat is there.
“At least if we have to go in, the Bearcat is built so we can, in fact, take it from the rear and get that directly up against the residence that we’ve now put a hole inside of and our officers can dump directly from the vehicle into the house,” Hess Graf added. “We can go to a second story in that vehicle if we need to. We have a turret on top that we can shoot out of if we need to. So there are different ways for law enforcement to get in and out of a scene. And also, God forbid, but if there’s somebody else in the house, we’re able to put them right inside the vehicle and close the doors.”
The ability to keep non-violent offenders, such as hostages, first responders and others safe at an active crime scene, was the selling point for the district attorney.
She told LebTown about an active crime scene where an individual killed themselves via gunfire inside the room of a local hotel. Before knowing those details, buses were used to move guests to safety.
“There was an individual that barricaded himself in the room. He fired a gun, and obviously you could hear the gunshots in the hotel and people were freaking out,” Hess Graf said. “And now we have to evacuate a whole hotel. We wound up using school buses, which are clearly not bulletproof but engineered to get large groups of people in and out of things.”
That event planted a seed about the need for a vehicle like the BearCat in the mind of the DA’s office and the county detective’s bureau, whose officers work under the direction of the district attorney.
“That sort of gave our office and the team a lot of pause that we have a duty to not only the officers but the people we’re going to save, and how do you justify to them that we’re pulling you out of a scene with active gunfire and I can’t promise you that you’re not going to get shot in the vehicle we put you in,” Hess Graf recalled. “So we had those concerns, but that price tag of a quarter of a million dollars, that’s a high price tag.”
Private fundraising through local businesses and community leaders was discussed as a way to raise the funds needed to purchase it.
“It was on the radar and then we had the Lebo shooting and I would say one of the biggest takeaways of that is what can we do better and what can we do differently for the community and for police,” said Hess-Graf. “I think showing the cops that not only as a result of that incident, just the outpouring of support and compassion that people showed them, but then seeing that they can ask me for something and we can deliver it and their jobs are safer, I think that was a big deal.”
No one wants to see the vehicle deployed, but it is reassuring to know it’s there when needed. LebTown asked if the SWAT team has protocols at active crime scenes.
“Any tactical decisions are made by the chief of police, the team commander, anyone that’s in the command post from an advisory standpoint, and then in conjunction with the team itself that’s on scene,” said Hess Graf. “So I would say it’s a fluid incident at all times because things can change in 5, 10 seconds.
“You know, if you look at what happened to Lt. Lebo, that went from we got a call for a burglary and his family member was inside the house to that it was an active violent crime scene and that happened within minutes,” she added. “So we have to be appreciative that in that moment you have to train your people to do their jobs in the best, most safe fashion and then you have to let them do it.”
Hess Graf shared an incident where it was deployed outside an active crime scenario.
When police officers were sent to arrest the armed suspects in a triple homicide that occurred in Lebanon city in May 2023, the BearCat was sent to the locations where the armed suspects were believed to be hiding. (That case is set to be prosecuted in Lebanon County Court later this year by Hess Graf, who is seeking the death penalty against the defendants).
Read More: Preliminary hearings conclude, trial set for suspects in Lebanon triple homicide
But it has a useful purpose outside the realm of protecting public safety, and that’s to be a public relations tool for law enforcement at community events.
“We did the car show this year with the CLA here in the city,” Hess Graf said. “We got involved with the parades for the first time this year. We are trying really hard to be active and involved.”
Hess Graf likes the role the vehicle plays in encouraging community residents to approach her department at those events.
“I believe it’s a great thing and I want people in the community to feel like they can reach out to us and use us as a resource or as a tool,” she said. “It starts a conversation. Sometimes, if I go to an event and I’m standing at a booth, people may not want to come up and ask questions.”
At a minimum, it’s an eye-opener when driven city streets. LebTown was offered a ride and, people who were outdoors braving the subzero temperatures that day stopped to gaze at it. (For safety purposes, LebTown was asked not to shoot interior photographs of the vehicle.)
“If that booth is next to the Bearcat, there’s always invariably gonna be little kids or people like my dad who just are interested in stuff like that and they come running up and it starts the conversation. That aspect of it I think is great,” Hess Graf added.
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