Police Armoured Island Response

History

The reasoning was stated plainly by the then Chief of Police, Patrick Rice: it was his job to ensure the island was adequately protected. The vehicle exists for the narrow case of an immediate risk to life or an armed individual — to recover injured people from a scene, or to put paramedics into one. Eleven years later the island's press reported that it had still never been used in its primary role. It has been deployed on training exercises over the years, but never operationally. That is not, on the force's account, a waste: it remains available to officers and is described as a very valuable tool to have. A vehicle that sits waiting is cheap to keep; the £180,000 was the whole of the expense. The converter is not named in the reporting, and no engine specification or registration has been published.