Salinas Police Department buys armoured tank for law enforcement NSW Police say they have cracked a high-level drug trafficking operation on the Central Coast. Police's new weapon against crime ... Salinas Police Department in California has purchased an armoured tank. Picture: Salinas Police Department/Facebook Source: Supplied MANY lament the lawlessness on our streets in today's society. Salinas Police Department in California recently announced it had bought an armoured tank, built to survive exploding bombs, to help its fight in enforcing the law. The $650,000 tank was given free to the police in the city of Salinas by the Army after a yearlong pursuit by Detective Dale Fors. Critics though took to Salinas Police Department's Facebook page to ask exactly why a city of 150,000 needed a vehicle designed for battle. "Salinas is a community, NOT A WAR ZONE!!" wrote Antonio El SalserodeAcero Sicilia. Linda May Jones wrote: "I cannot tell you how happy I am that I left the police state of Ca. You folks should vote out or recall everyone that approved the militarisation of your beautiful city. Police? This is pure military," wrote Baron Mojohito. Salinas Police Chief Kelly McMillin said he knew the free purchase would create hysteria. "I have been reading with great interest the comments of those who feel strongly about this vehicle and the implications it has as regards the policing of Salinas," he wrote on Facebook. "The community will be safer for this vehicle," McMillin told The Californian. If you're the person with some guy shooting next door, you want to see this thing driving up into your yard, the hydraulic steps coming down and 37,000 pounds of ballistically sound steel between you and the person taking shots at you. "This thing doesn't have any offensive capacity, there are no weapons mounted to it," McMillin told The Californian. The only weapons are the ones we already bring with us on SWAT scenes.