Did the Coeur d’Alene Police Department put the BearCat before the horse?

On Tuesday, Coeur d’Alene City Council approved using additional general funds to buy a new armored rescue vehicle called a BearCat. Built and provided by Lemco Armored Vehicles, it is primarily used by SWAT teams in high-intensity situations.

The purchase, however, came under fire Tuesday as city officials questioned why the police department bought the $334,932 vehicle without putting it out to bid. Per city law, any purchase over $250,000 must go through an open competitive bidding process.

“This wasn’t just a willy-nilly decision,” former Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White said Tuesday. “The city administrator and finance was looped through every part of this process. We didn’t just go off and purchase the BearCat without anyone’s knowledge. It was approved by the city administrator and finance was notified of the purchase at that time.”

According to the police department, it all goes back to 2024, when a fire destroyed its support services building. A lithium-ion battery pack left charging on an electric bicycle led to catastrophic failure, and the building became a total loss. 

The fire destroyed the police department’s former armored vehicle, three motorcycles and other materials. The city received about $2.24 million in insurance proceeds, with only $178,643 remaining from that compensation. 

That fire on June 9, 2024, immediately prompted a declaration of a state of emergency, which exempted the city’s bidding process policy. 

By July 2024, the police department established a purchase agreement with Lemco for a new BearCat, intending to pay for it with insurance settlement funds. 

According to a memo from Police Chief Greg Yeager, however, the purchase was not communicated to the finance department. It was therefore “not included as an encumbrance in the City's insurance settlement tracking or subsequent budget development.”

“The police department spent money on all things related to the fire,” said Yeager, who noted he was not on Coeur d’Alene’s police force in 2024. “But it moved them past the point of leaving enough money for the BearCat.”

City documents show that once the police department’s SWAT commander learned that the new BearCat’s production was completed, the city had yet to pay for it.

On Tuesday, the city, along with the BearCat, also approved a police department purchase of a UTV and public protective equipment. This means it is now taking an additional $204,432 from its general fund to fund the entire purchase, bringing the total to $382,482.

The final number would’ve been higher, as the police department requested purchasing two new motorcycles to shore up the three it lost in the fire. Councilmember Christie Wood, a former police officer, moved to approve the final tally without the request to purchase two motorcycles.

“It’s very concerning to have that big of a shortfall and think that it’s going to be paid for, and here we are,” Wood said. “No matter what we do tonight, it’s going to be very difficult for me not to support a BearCat.”

Wood also said systems and policies need to be in place for how items are tracked and “who’s in charge of what.”

“It’s a huge, huge oversight,” she said of the BearCat.

According to Finance Director Katie Ebner, the city is implementing a purchase order policy to avoid future miscommunications or financial oversights.

“This has never happened before to us, to the city, where all of a sudden we had a building blow up and we get insurance money,” Mayor Dan Gookin said. “And council, most of you up here, including myself, authorized the city for emergency expenditures, which doesn't normally happen.”

The council asked Yeager to come before them in the future to present on a possible purchase of motorcycles for the police department.

    A fire destroyed the Coeur d'Alene Police Department's support services building in 2024.