Town of Ulster Supervisor James Quigley III said this week he’s prepared to end a shared police services agreement between the town and the City of Kingston if city officials don’t pick up part of the cost for an armored rescue vehicle for a joint city-town SWAT team.

In addition to closing down the tactical team, Quigley said, ending the agreement would also result in pulling an Ulster police detective detailed to work with the KPD and bring a halt to the practice of Town of Ulster cops responding to non-emergency calls near the edge of city limits.

“If [city officials] don’t feel that they have an obligation to protect their officers, why am I putting Town of Ulster employees in harm’s way by sending them into the City of Kingston?” said Quigley on Friday, July 16.

Quigley’s remarks come two days after four members of the Kingston Common Council’s Finance Committee rejected a request by city police for an internal budget transfer that would allow them to obtain a $100,000 grant through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to fund part of the cost of a Lenco Bearcat armored rescue vehicle. Another $75,000 of the purchase price would be paid by the Town of Ulster.

Since 2016, the two municipalities have had a shared services agreement to operate the joint KPD-UPD SWAT team, which responds to high-risk situations involving armed suspects as well as rescues and other calls that require special equipment or training beyond what’s available in the departments’ patrol divisions. The team is one of just 17 in New York State accredited through a program by the state Department of Criminal Justice Services.

As part of the accreditation process, the program underwent an assessment earlier this year that determined the team’s current armored vehicle, a 1979 Dodge Ram “Peacekeeper,” was no longer serviceable and needed to be replaced.

At July 14’s Finance Committee meeting, KPD Chief Egidio Tinti pushed back against complaints from some community members that the vehicle was a “tank” that would be used to intimidate citizens. Tinti noted that the team’s current armored vehicle was deployed so rarely most lawmakers were unaware of its existence.

“This is not a tank, this is no different from a commercial Brinks armored car,” said Tinti. “This provides safety and security for the individuals in the vehicle to get up to tactically sound situations for retrieval and rescue.”

But a crowd of about 40 members and supporters of local social justice group Rise Up Kingston attended the meeting in the newly reopened Council Chambers to make the case that the vehicle represented the kind of militarized policing on display in some communities last summer when some police agencies deployed armored vehicles and heavily armed tactical officers to confront crowds protesting police violence.

'Free violence is still violence'

RUK director Callie Jayne said that just because the vehicle would be funded by a grant, it doesn’t justify its use on city streets.

“Free violence is still violence,” said Jayne. “We can’t talk about this from a dollars and cents standpoint about how it may be fiscally responsible, you are trying to push forth violence if you allow a tank in this city.”

Asked why the joint SWAT team could not rely on a military surplus “Mine Resistant Ambush Protected” (MRAP) vehicle used by the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office’s own tactical team, Tinti said that the two teams operated independently and there would be no guarantees that the sheriff’s vehicle would be available when needed in Kingston.

Tinti added that the sheriff’s armored vehicle is too large to deploy on some city streets and was the exact type of military hardware — as opposed to the civilian model Bearcat — that had aroused protestors’ objections.

The only other armored vehicle in the area was based at a state police barracks in Orange County — nearly an hour away from Kingston.

“When a situation occurs we reach out to other agencies that have [an armored vehicle],” said Tinti. “It is my responsibility and the responsibility of the leader of the Emergency Services Unit to bring in the tools that they need to effectively do the job. The nearest one is nearly an hour away and that’s too long when lives are at stake.”

Mixed message?

But Finance Committee members questioned the need for an armored vehicle and pointed to community opposition. Alderwoman Michele Hirsch (D-Ward 9) said the city would be sending a “confusing” message by approving the armored vehicle at the same time it was working with the Peaceful Guardians program on efforts to improve police-community relations. Council President Andrea Shaut, who does not vote on council matters except to break a tie, nonetheless expressed her opposition to the proposal.

“I’d rather the community come out and say we want this, we think we need this and the police listen to that,” said Shaut. “Rather than the other way around and the police saying to the community what they want and what they need.”

Committee members Hirsch, Alderman Tony Davis (D-Ward 6), Alderman Rennie Scott-Childress (D-Ward 3) and Alderman Steve Schabot (D-Ward 9) all voted against the plan. The proposal will go to the full nine-member Common Council next month and could still be approved if there are enough votes.

Quigley said he’s had been calling Kingston lawmakers this week, urging them to approve the vehicle purchase and warning them about the potential end of the shared services agreement.

There’s no chance the Town of Ulster would pick up the entire tab for the armored vehicle, Quigley said, in part because it, like other elements of the agreement, provides more benefit to the city than the town.

“There are benefits to the shared services agreement,” said Quigley. “And if I was to sit down and play accountant, I would say, on the surface the contribution by the Town of Ulster to the City of Kingston is far greater than the reverse.”