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Lincoln County Sheriff Curt Folger, left, and Deputy Sheriff Sim Thacker stand with one of the new Humvees recently acquired by the Sheriff's Office through the Department of Defense 1033 program. (Ben Kleppinger / ben@theinteriorjournal.com / September 21, 2012) |
STANFORD — The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office has added a pair of military Humvees to its fleet, courtesy of the Department of Defense.
Sheriff Curt Folger said the highly mobile transport vehicles will be used in emergency or disaster situations when regular vehicles might not make the grade.
"They're capable of doing things that our other units are not capable of doing," he said. "They've got tires that can take a rifle-load to the side pretty much and they won't go down."
The Humvees were used by Kentucky National Guard military police in the middle east and still had sand in them when the Sheriff's Office received them around the end of August, Deputy Sim Thacker said.
They top out around 60 miles per hour, but they can be submersed in up to 5 feet of water and get 16 to 18 miles per gallon.
The Sheriff's Office got ahold of the vehicles thanks to Thacker's work getting the department approved to receive equipment through the Department of Defense 1033 program.
Agencies in the program have no-charge access to military equipment of all shapes, sizes and purposes that is either surplus or going to be destroyed if no one wants to use it, Thacker said.
"I had to go through all the hoops of getting us into the program," he said.
Beyond the Humvees, which are valued at $48,000 apiece, the Sheriff's Office is scheduled to receive more than $100,000 worth of assault rifles and handguns.
Other equipment acquired by the Sheriff's Office through the 1033 program includes large filing cabinets, water hydration systems and field packs.
Thacker, who learned about the 1033 program while taking training on how to write grants last year, said he's now set his sights on getting some night-vision equipment and heavy body armor through the program.
A larger goal is landing a troop transport vehicle that could make it through deep water and over rough terrain during a disaster and transport multiple families at the same time to safety.
"The way budgets are right now, this is a blessing," he said. "So far, the 1033 program has yielded us a good amount of equipment and stuff we're needing."
