There are a few things Del Rey Oaks city officials want you to know about the police department’s new armored vehicle, which was designed for military use to withstand bomb blasts.
One: It’s totally free.
Two: “It’s just a big truck,” in the words of Police Chief Ron Langford.
And then there’s one thing they don’t want you to know: who donated the money to keep it free.
Langford went through slides on the specifications and the virtues of his new vehicle at a City Council meeting on Aug. 26, presenting to a standing-room-only audience. The crowd was there not to talk about the armored vehicle, despite a flurry of national media attention on the militarization of police departments. They were there to ask City Council to reverse aproposed $120 annual user fee for the dog park. (City Council created a committee to review the fee-setting.)
Langford’s presentation even included a slide that said, in large red letters, “It is a big truck!” Fair enough – only by that logic, the mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle, known as an MRAP, is a very special variety of big truck. It was used by American troops in Kuwait, and is built to withstand all existing firearms available in the United States.
“IT’S JUST A BIG TRUCK”
How tiny Del Rey Oaks, population 1,775, came to acquire a military vehicle worth an estimated $733,000 at no cost is the story of how the Pentagon has for decades been offloading surplus military gear to law enforcement agencies across the country, and the story of how an affluent volunteer police force can buy its favored department its own arsenal.
Del Rey Oaks is by most measures a very safe city. Traffic violations and shoplifting at Safeway account for the overwhelming majority of the police department’s activity. There are just six full-time police officers, three part-time officers, and 10 volunteer reservists.
And one MRAP. “It has no turret, no gun ports,” Langford said. “It has nothing offensive on it, nor will it. It is strictly a rescue vehicle.”
He went on to describe some potential uses, most of them tactical rather than rescue-oriented. It could have responded to Monterey Peninsula College, when rumors surfaced of a shooter on campus (those rumors turned out not to be true). Police could roll up to a house in the MRAP, straight up across the front lawn, in the event of a hostage situation.
“I sleep a lot better knowing we have this stuff, and these kind of people,” City Councilman Jeff Cecilio said. “I love the concept. I love the fact that it isn’t going to cost us anything.”
It won’t cost the city anything thanks to a handshake deal and donation from an heir to a 19th-century railroad fortune.
• • •
James Hill became known as “the empire builder” in his lifetime for creating the Great Northern Railway, connecting Minnesota to Seattle. James Hill III lives in Pebble Beach and serves as a volunteer on the Del Rey Oaks police reserves.
The younger Hill owns El Sur Ranch in Big Sur, perched on stunning 7,000 acres of coastline next to the Point Sur Lighthouse. Earlier this year, he donated $7,500 to Del Rey Oaks to acquire a bomb-sniffing police dog, and he’s pledged $100,000 to refurbish and “civilianize” the MRAP. (It’s currently in a Salinas garage being worked on; Langford expects it will be completed by Jan. 1.)
When the Weekly asked City Manager Daniel Dawson about the donation and the donor, he erected his own armor.
“Am I trying to hide something? No, no I’m not,” Dawson says. “But I’m trying to protect a valuable resource for my city.”
That resource is Hill. After Hill declined comment, the Weekly filed a Public Records Act request seeking records related to Hill’s donations to the city. After being notified of the request, Hill called his attorney. Dawson called the Weekly and asked that we withdraw the request for records: “99 percent of the correspondence you request happens face to face (what a concept!) and not in a written recordable form,” Dawson emailed.
Hill tells the Weekly he’s a private person, and adds that media inquiries discourage philanthropists from giving. (He donated $500 to Andrew Liu’s successful campaign for judge this year. In 2012 he gave $2,500 to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, and another $1,000 to a Romney-affiliated PAC, Free and Strong America.)
“AM I TRYING TO HIDE SOMETHING? NO, I’M TRYING TO PROTECT A VALUABLE RESOURCE FOR MY CITY.”
Hill also owns NorthTree Fire International, a private firefighting and emergency response firm he founded in 1986. It’s through NorthTree that he’ll manage all MRAP repairs and maintenance for up to five years; Del Rey Oaks will never even receive a bill. City Council voted 4-0 to consider again in 5 years whether to keep it; they indicated they’ll only do so if it never costs the city a dime.
When Langford decided to apply for the vehicle, Dawson never thought the tiny, safe city would make the cut. “I said, ‘Sure, good luck.’ I figured we’d never get it, then lo and behold, the chief let me know, ‘Guess what, we got one,’” Dawson says. “So then I’m like, ‘Now what?’”
They needed $100,000 in refurbishing costs, and Hill volunteered. A contractor went to Sealy, Texas, to pick up Del Rey Oaks’ new big truck, and it arrived in Monterey County May 8.
The MRAP came with an informational packet for new vehicle owners, explaining the pickup process and offering some safety tips. “The good news is there are plenty of MRAPs available,” the packet states. “Every [law enforcement agency] who wants one (and can justify having one) will get one.”
“BY DESIGN THE MRAP IS TOP HEAVY… PLEASE USE CAUTION WHEN GOING AROUND CORNERS”
The vehicle weighs about 47,000 pounds, info provided under the header “Does this MRAP make me look fat?” There’s also driving advice: “By design the MRAP is top heavy… Please use caution when going around corners” and a word of caution to gas up immediately upon leaving the gate. They get just 3 miles per gallon.
• • •
Langford’s plan is to store the vehicle in the Del Rey Oaks lot, and deploy it as needed. It’s there to share it with other Peninsula cities. (The closest MRAP is owned by Salinas PD. The sheriff’s office has a BearCat, an armored vehicle used by the SWAT team.)
More than 60 percent of Del Rey Oaks’ $1.9 million annual budget goes to the police department. They’re non-union, which Dawson says makes it possible for volunteers to help out since there isn’t a hard bargain to strike on overtime. Most of what reservists do is move traffic at Laguna Seca events, but they’re also sworn officers, with the same arrest authorities as paid police.
For his part, Dawson says he’s been preoccupied with the city’s budget woes, trying to extricate from protracted litigation with a would’ve-been bankrupt developer and get a Fort Ord land sale off the ground. (A $3 million deal is expected to close any day.)
“Chief Langford has developed relationships with people over the years,” Dawson says. That’s 32 years that he’s been chief. “They’re very dedicated, good-hearted people who want to see Del Rey Oaks survive.
“Mr. Hill’s name,” Dawson adds, “should never have been brought up.”