Hundreds Sign Anti-Bearcat Petition in Concord

Concord residents and activists on Aug. 24, collected hundreds of petitions from other residents against a city council proposal to accept a federal grant for a Lenco Bearcat armored vehicle.

The activists held a press conference outside City Hall on Aug. 26, calling on the city to reject the Bearcat, saying that it was not needed.

The proposal has garnered a lot of press and scrutiny ever since it was revealed in the grant application that Concord’s police chief, John Duval, had mentioned that the armored vehicle was needed due to the potential for domestic terrorist threats, brought about by groups like the Free State Project and Occupy New Hampshire. Duval apologized for singling out the groups in the grant application. But after the public hearing on Aug. 12, activists have become more involved in trying to stop the grant.

Pam Ean, a Concord resident who is a former police officer and teacher, told those in attendance that it was time for local residents to draw a line in the sand when it came to federal spending, deficits, and debt, and reject the Bearcat, which costs about $260,000.

“The federal government continues to spend money it does not have in this way as long as our local governments allows them to do so,” she said. “The buck must stop here in Concord.”

State Sen. Andy Sanborn, R-Bedford, who co-owns The Draft on Main Street, also came out against the Bearcat recently and said, while it was important to support law enforcement efforts to protect the community, it didn’t mean militarizing the police was the way to do it.

“This is a town that comes together and manages its own,” he said. “This is a perfect case where the city council really ought to focus its effort on making sure we remain a community and not a military zone.”

Brian Blackden, another former officer who lives and operates a business in Concord, said the city would be better off spending money purchasing better protective gear for its officers. He held up two bullets showing the difference between what was used by the military, a tiny one, and a larger one, an anti-aircraft bullet, which the Bearcat was built to deflect, which would be fired from a gun few people own. Blackden added that Duval stated in his testimony that he wouldn’t purchase the Bearcat directly out of his budget if there were no federal grant.

“It’s new federal spending, not military surplus equipment,” Blackden said. “I say, Let the message be loud and clear … save our country from financial demise. Make this the shot heard ‘round the world. No more Bearcats.”

Carla Gericke, the president of the Free State Project, who has been active with the issue every since the grant application came to light, again called on the three city officials involved in the request to resign from their jobs. She said calling the group domestic terrorists was offensive and wrong.

“You cannot say to us that because we have ideas that are slightly different than yours that we are domestic terrorists, “ she said, adding that local police were using the Free State Project as a target to garner free assault vehicles from the federal government.

State Rep. George Lambert, R-Litchfield, a former selectman, said he too had written federal grant applications and even approved them in the past. But he added that the country was about what was in the people’s best interest, and what they think and feel, not the government’s best interest. Lambert called on activists to use the state Constitution to challenge the application.

“There are more of these vehicles in America today than we had tanks in World War II,” he said, adding that citizens should be worried about the government using arbitrary power and oppression against its people. “When the public says no, it’s no.”

At the end of the press conference, Ean said activists would continue to collect signatures and would present the final number to the Concord City Council before its Sept. 9, hearing, when it is scheduled to take a vote on the matter. 

The Concord School Board will consider the Bearcat proposal on Aug. 28. 

Editor's Note: The date of the Concord City Council meeting has been corrected.