What is a Bearcat? Mention the word in Binghamton and most will think of the mascot of SUNY-Binghamton’s sports teams.
For police chiefs and the sheriff it’s another animal altogether: an armored personnel carrier, most often used to carry SWAT teams into action or counter civil protest. And where there was one, there are now two.
Produced by the Lenco Corp for military use worldwide, BearCats are personnel carriers with armored steel bodies, ballistic glass capable of multiple high-powered weapon hits, and blast-resistant floors. The first local BearCat was obtained in 2019 by the Binghamton Police Department and introduced with celebration by the Republican Mayor, the Democratic County Executive, and our Republican State Senator:
The City was playing catch up here: over five years earlier the Broome County Sheriff got himself an armored personnel carrier, a surplus apartheid war machine, a South African Casspir:
Not to be outdone by the City, Sheriff Harder has apparently retired the Casspir and purchased his own BearCat for his own SWAT team–at the cost of $273,000.
It isn’t clear at all what such a war vehicle will do. Last year the Broome SWAT team was primarily used for drug raids on unarmed persons—and the constant policing of protests and parades. Indeed, the most notable use of the BearCat according to the Sheriff’s own annual report was its dispatch to a Black Lives Matter protest in Troy NY (2020 Annual Report, p. 36).
And where did the $273,000 come from? You won’t find it in Broome County Budget sheets. It took a freedom-of information request to find the source: the pockets of the poorest residents of the county, those incarcerated in the Sheriff’s jail.
Out of sight and unmonitored, the Sheriff reaps huge profits from running a monopoly telephone and video exchange for those incarcerated in the jail. A 15 minute call that costs 65 cents from a state prison costs at least $3.75 from the Broome jail and can run up to $9.95 with setup and billing charges. The Sheriff skims off 44% of revenues from all telphone calls and 20% of all video tablet use. Profits in 2020 came to $373,000 and paid for everything from the BearCat to retirement party banners to outfitting conference rooms. Under COVID, profits rose to $655,000 in 2021.
These revenues rest on the exploitation of families desperate to remain in contact with loved ones locked behind closed doors, out of sight. As state and local authorities relax COVID restrictions it is harder and harder to justify keeping in-person visitation closed. State prisons have long ago reinstated in-person visitation with social distancing. County jails across the state, including those in nearby counties, have done the same. In an effort to force the same, Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier and families of the incarcerated have filed a lawsuit with the assistance of Legal Services of Central NY demanding a return to family visits.
Sheriff Harder has refused to comment, so far. County officials are silent as well.
The Sheriff and County have lost a regular series of lawsuits over wrongful deaths and the abuse of the incarcerated, and face ongoing lawsuits over the beating of youth, another death, and the abuse of trans women in the jail. Those with family members in the jail look forward to JUST winning this lawsuit
It will not be easy to deter the militarization of local police forces: State Senator Akshar, sponsor of the Binghamton BearCat, recently announced the retirement of Sheriff Harder and his candidacy to replace Harder (Harder himself has said nothing). His democratic opponent is, like Akshar, a veteran Sheriff’s Deputy and long-term Harder supporter.
Commentaries on Local Justice by Bill Martin
Leave a Reply