Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton and police Chief Mike Diekhoff admitted their mistakes to a full house inside City Hall’s council chambers.
They were not as transparent as they should have been about the city’s purchase of a new armored vehicle for the Bloomington Police Department’s Critical Incident Response Team.
Dozens of people Tuesday evening took three-minute turns at microphones during more than two hours of public comment about the city’s $225,000 purchase of a Lenco BearCat, a civilian-grade Ford F-550 truck outfitted with metal plating and bulletproof glass designed to withstand high-powered rifle rounds.
“I want to be clear that I believe we in government, collectively, did not air enough about plans and engage with questions and concerns publicly early enough, as we should have. And we’re making up time now,” Hamilton said before announcing three more opportunities for residents to speak with public safety and city officials.
“We dropped the ball in getting out information about this. We should have done a better job to engage the public, and now we’re trying to make up for that,” Diekhoff said. The chief first announced the new armored vehicle during a presentation of the police department’s annual report on Feb. 6.
Concerned citizens and protesters have since contended the armored vehicle militarizes local police and has become a symbol of racial oppression, a point several people reiterated Tuesday night.
Members of Black Lives Matter Bloomington, Monroe County Showing up for Racial Justice, Women’s March Indiana, the Bloomington Solidarity Network, Monroe County NOW and Indivisible Bloomington were among those who spoke out against the armored truck.