SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A military-style armored track vehicle to protect officers in the line of fire hasn’t been used by the Sacramento Police Department nearly two years after it was purchased.

The Police Department purchased the vehicle, called the Rook, using $430,000 from a federal grant. The Sacramento City Council approved the purchase in late January 2023 after a lengthy and heated debate in which critics, including one council member, said this was “further militarizing” local law enforcement.

The Rook’s armored-plating is designed to protect officers facing the threat of gunfire; the vehicle is meant for “any of the traditional senses of military use,” Police Chief Kathy Lester said at that City Council meeting.

The Rook, Lester said, allows officers the mobility to gain safe positions of advantage and provides opportunities for them to resolve dangerous situations using de-escalation techniques and potentially less force “when dealing with really violent people.”

In June 2019, Sacramento police Officer Tara O’Sullivan was killed in an ambush while trying to help a woman retrieve her belongings from a home where Adel Sambrano Ramos had been behaving erratically. O’Sullivan was mortally wounded by gunfire and lay on the ground nearly an hour before tactical officers were able to secure her rescue. After an hourslong standoff, the armed gunman, later identified as Ramos, surrendered.

At the 2023 City Council meeting, a member of Lester’s command staff described the June 2019 ambush that killed O’Sullivan. He said a larger, less nimble vehicle got stuck in the mud as officers tried to get closer to the armed gunman.

Ramos in August pleaded guilty to felony charges including murder for O’Sullivan’s slaying and attempted murder of another officer caught in the Del Paso Heights ambush. The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office will seek the death penalty against Ramos a second time after a death penalty trial ended in November with the jury deadlocked.

Where is the Rook?

Through a California Public Records Act request, The Sacramento Bee received documents related to the usage of the Rook. Among purchase documents, the Police Department provided its annual military equipment use report that showed the Rook has not been used at all.

In early December, police officials confirmed the armored vehicle purchased 23 months ago has not been used. They said the vehicle was at the city Fleet Services department being outfitted.

It’s unclear how the vehicle is being outfitted and whether the service it’s undergoing was the reason the Rook hasn’t been used. Police officials said they would be able to answer these questions after the armored track vehicle is returned to them.

“As we’ve mentioned, the Rook 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. “Additionally, there is supplemental equipment associated with the Rook that is also undergoing work, including the vehicle(s) used to transport it.”

The report released by the Police Department includes data from each incident in which military equipment was used from May 1, 2023 through April 30. While the Rook hasn’t been used, the department has used both of its armored BearCat vehicles numerous times. There were times when both BearCats were used in the same incident.

The Bearcats, which are larger than the Rook, are armored wheeled vehicles that each seat 10 to 12 fully equipped officers with tactical gear and weapons. The large trucks are typically used by the members of the police SWAT team.

The Rook is listed in the Police Department’s inventory of military equipment, which includes the two BearCat armored vehicles, a multipurposed wheeled vehicle, two command center RVs, robots and aerial drones and small remote control vehicles with cameras. Also included in the inventory are specialized firearms and ammunition, along with diversionary devices and chemical agents.

The Police Department used military equipment 307 in the time-period specified in the report. The equipment was used 115 times while searching for a wanted suspect; 106 times while serving a high-risk search warrant; 38 times responding to a report of an armed suspect; 17 times to respond to a barricaded suspect and another 17 times to assess a crime scene, according to the report.

The Police Department only used military equipment once during that year in a rescue operation.

The Rook was purchased for $439,894 from a Florida-based company Ring Power, which calls the Rook an Armored Critical Incident Vehicle. The Rook purchase was funded by a federal Urban Area Security Initiative grant, not city funding.

In the 2023 city council meeting, police officials said the department asked the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office for assistance with its own Rook 13 times in the previous four years.

Before the purchase was approved, discussion about obtaining the Rook lasted nearly two hours before the vote was taken. The City Council voted 7-2 to authorize the purchase of the armored vehicle. Council members Katie Valenzuela and Mai Vang voted against the purchase.

“This is not a war zone. This is our community,” Valenzuela said during the 2023 meeting. “Further militarizing our law enforcement is moving us in the wrong direction.”

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