WALTON COUNTY, Ga. — A federal contractor is on the way to pick up an armored car from a local sheriff’s office, even though the sheriff says it’s saved his deputies’ lives.
Earlier this year, in the wake of police reaction to riots in Ferguson, Missouri, President Obama ordered that all military tracked vehicles sold to local law enforcement agencies be taken back, saying such vehicles give some people the impression of an occupying force in American cities.
“It's definitely a knee-jerk reaction,” Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman said about the decision.
He says that car is needed to keep his county and his deputies safe.
It was May of 2012 when a gunman opened fire on deputies during a standoff. Chapman says without the M-113 armored car, his men likely would have been killed.
“My biggest fear is something happening in one of the local schools and us needing some type of equipment to get into that situation to get children out of that situation,” Chapman said.
It's unclear how many Georgia agencies have to send equipment back. Those that purchased items on their own or had them donated by individuals before the ban can keep them.
“I don't think they have a clue of how we live here in Walton County,” Chapman said.
Walton County’s Sheriff’s Office, like many law enforcement agencies around Georgia, is trying to figure out how they are going to replace the vehicles.