Protecting Utica: The Armadillo

It's been over a year and a half since the Utica police department deployed "The Armadillo." The main purpose of the surveillance vehicle is to protect the city of Utica... Especially in troubled areas. Eyewitness News Reporter Stephen Bond shows us the history of this rare crime fighting tool, and the future of the "armadillo." The idea isn't unique to Utica, in fact it began in Illinois, but it has changed the way the Utica Police Department works to keep the neighborhoods safe. "Although The Armadillo does not replace law enforcement, it doesn't replace boots on the ground so to speak. It does give us some technology that we can use, information that we can develop and from there maybe tailor our enforcement so that we're not having to do all the research ourselves." Utica is the only city in New York to have this technology which makes The Utica Police Department trendsetters. "I get calls from other cities asking me about our Armadillo and how it works and I tell them it's just one of the best things we've done so far and that's why we've just purchased another one and we're going to put the second one on the road." The Utica police department received word yesterday their bid for another truck was approved and should be shipped to Utica shortly.