Erie unveils armored rescue vehicle for regional SWAT, funded by $487,750 state grant

Erie Mayor announced on Aug. 30 that the city has taken delivery of a 2025 Teradyne Gurkha armored rescue vehicle for the Erie Regional SWAT team, funded by a $487,750 grant from the Commonwealth Financing Authority. Mayor said the unit is intended to improve the team’s capacity for high-risk rescues and regional mutual-aid responses.

The vehicle will be assigned to Erie Regional SWAT, a 25-officer unit that the mayor said maintains a Tier 1 rating under National Tactical Officers Association standards and serves an estimated 450,000 residents across Crawford, Erie, Forest, Venango and Warren counties. The mayor noted the team also has mutual-aid agreements with an additional 13 counties in Region 13, “serving more than 3,000,000 people.”

“This vehicle was funded through a $487,750 grant from the Commonwealth Financing Authority,” the mayor said, thanking state officials and the CFA board for support. Chief Dan Spizarni, Erie’s police chief, and Deputy Chief Bill Marucci described operational reasons for the purchase and the vehicle’s capabilities.

Chief Dan Spizarni said the department purchased the vehicle in February 2025 to replace an older Bearcat whose useful life exceeded 10–15 years. He said SWAT deployments have risen in recent years: the department logged 42 SWAT activations in 2022, 70 in 2023, 52 in 2024 and 42 so far this year. Citywide calls for service also have increased, he added, from about 45,608 calls in 2020 to more than 61,000 last year; in the first 38 weeks of the year the city had answered over 46,000 calls and was “on pace to end the year over 63,000 calls for service” if trends continued.

Deputy Chief Bill Marucci outlined the vehicle’s equipment and intended uses, saying the Gurkha adds medevac rescue capability, upgraded armor, a rooftop water-suppression turret to address fires in standoff situations, a pan-tilt-zoom thermal-imaging camera for searches, and an internal ram tool for door breaching that can be operated without exposing officers. Marucci said the vehicle’s capacity to transport the whole team will reduce previous instances when the unit had to split because only one armored vehicle was available. He noted the vehicle arrived on Saturday, August 30.

Marucci and Spizarni cited past multi-agency operations in which Erie SWAT assisted the U.S. Marshals Service, FBI, ATF and Pennsylvania State Police, and named several municipalities outside Erie County where the team has been called in recent years. The mayor said none of the vehicle’s cost was borne by Erie taxpayers, and he thanked state elected officials and the governor’s office for supporting the CFA grant.

The mayor used the event to acknowledge Deputy Chief Marucci’s 28 years of service; Marucci is scheduled to retire the day after the news conference. Officials said the vehicle will be housed at the city’s planned public safety complex at the Miller Brothers site once construction of phase two and the emergency operations center is complete.

No formal votes or policy actions were taken during the news conference.