> This particular Sheriff's Department hasn't lost an officer in the line of duty since 1998 (and that's a good thing):

Great, here's to the next two decades of nobody being shot in a county where the neighbourhood with the most violent crime still has housing prices higher than 99.4%(!) of the country. The next time somebody is shooting at them, they might have the armoured vehicle out; you should be happy for that. Armoured vehicles are not a weapon of war, they are a common tool for protecting business and life. Banks use armoured cars , VIPs use armoured cars. If you were responding to a shootout, even if it's the first and last of your career, you would want to arrive in an armoured car.