Dec. 27—Santa Fe police were equipped with an armored vehicle, SWAT trucks, flash-bangs and shatter balls when they arrived at a south-side park in late May to conclude a monthslong undercover drug investigation.
Although no shots were fired, the armored vehicle — a BearCat — still came in handy: After arresting 20-year-old Elijah Aguirre, officers used the BearCat’s loudspeaker (police reports call it a “long-range acoustic device”) to call for occupants to leave Aguirre’s nearby residence.
Reports provided by the city of Santa Fe detail how officers used the trucks (for a pinching maneuver to keep Aguirre’s car from leaving), flash-bangs (to temporarily disorient the suspect) and shatter balls (to break the tinted windows of Aguirre’s car). But the records say little else about the role of the aging BearCat — which the department recently received permission to replace with two more.
Santa Fe police have maintained the BearCat is necessary to keep officers safe during critical incidents, pointing out the vehicle has taken gunfire three times in the 18 years it has been used.
In August, the Santa Fe City Council approved the department’s request to purchase three additional armored vehicles — two more BearCats and one explosive ordnance disposal vehicle, called a BombCat — at a cost of about $1.1 million altogether. The two BearCats will replace the current one, which police have said is nearing the end of its useful life.
The department’s request for more armored vehicles sparked scrutiny. A few city councilors suggested the department should spend the funds instead on filling officer vacancies and investing in “community policing.” City Councilor Alma Castro proposed cutting the purchase to one BearCat and one BombCat, but her proposed amendment failed.
How is the BearCat used?
Santa Fe police deployed the BearCat 17 times in 2023, nine of those being unplanned “SWAT call outs” and eight being warrant operations. The BearCat has been deployed 12 times in 2024 as of Thursday, Deputy Chief Ben Valdez said.
The Santa Fe New Mexican, wanting to know more about the BearCat deployments, submitted a request for public records in August. Over the last two months, the city has provided 10 “after action” memorandums on BearCat deployments over the past two years, including two from 2024. The city’s records staff is still “reviewing” eight other memos, according to an email.
The police memorandums suggest the BearCat is mostly deployed when officers head out to arrest or serve search warrants on suspects who may be armed — often suspected drug dealers but also on other calls deemed “high risk” — including at least one domestic violence call.
The heavily redacted memos — which are signed by the chief of police — contain details about the SWAT incidents, including any resulting arrests and damage from the operation. For example, they show that when police searched Aguirre’s vehicle after that May arrest, they found several guns along with cocaine, prescription pills and more than $2,000 in cash.
The memorandums, arrest warrants and other documents also shed light on these BearCat deployments:
* In May 2023, the SWAT team was deployed to a house on Primo Colores Street, off Agua Fría Street, to execute a search warrant on a man who had been reportedly driving on Cerrillos Road and firing at another vehicle the day before.
* In April 2023, the BearCat was used when Santa Fe’s SWAT team was deployed to a residence on Ninita Street, near Railyard Park, in response to a 911 call from the mother of a 23-year-old man who she said was threatening to hurt her and himself. In addition to the BearCat, police dispatched an explosives truck, a crisis negotiation team van and 23 officers. Police issued commands from a PA system and used a flash-bang as well as two canisters of tear gas, but the man was ultimately not found in the home.
* Officers scouted Coronado Condominiums for a week before the BearCat was deployed in a February 2023 raid on a unit where a resident was suspected of selling drugs. In addition to the armored vehicle, the raid involved three SWAT trucks and 24 officers in all.
* In June 2023, the BearCat was deployed in an arrest warrant operation at Country Club Gardens Mobile Home Park off Airport Road. After a standoff, officers arrested Clarence Martinez, 21, who then had three active arrest warrants — for charges of kidnapping, aggravated battery and shoplifting. Police also used five SWAT trucks, an explosive ordnance team truck and a crisis negotiation team van in the arrest, and officers used a flash-bang and four rubber bullets, according to the memo.
* In June, a SWAT operation on Wolf Creek Road resulted in a man being arrested and police search of a residence, but charges do not appear to have been filed after the incident.
And why is a BombCat needed?
Because the police department has requested a BombCat, The New Mexican also reviewed the department’s annual report, which describes deployments of the agency’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team. It was called out 11 times in 2023. The unit did not locate any explosives during any of the calls, according to the report. The team was also deployed to assist the department’s SWAT team for 17 calls that year.
Valdez said the unit has gone without an armored vehicle for decades, and the new BombCat “will be a welcomed addition to keep our personnel safe while investigating suspicious packages and hazardous devices.”
The department expects to receive the new armored vehicles in mid-2026, Santa Fe police Deputy Chief Ben Valdez said, noting the vehicles take 14 to 18 months to manufacture.
Asked whether the city’s police force expects to deploy both BearCats simultaneously to incidents, Valdez wrote, “I can speak for the last 20 years, that the department has always had a need for two armored vehicles for SWAT Operations, so the deployment of the two vehicles to a scene of a critical incident will not be uncommon.”
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