Hacked Construction Sign Displays Community Ire at Armored Vehicle

A construction sign on the corner of Grimes Lane and South Woodlawn Avenue in Bloomington was hacked this morning. Instead of displaying construction and traffic pattern information, the hacked sign read “BURN THE BEARCAT,” in reference to the city’s acquisition over the weekend of an armored vehicle for its police department.

The Lenco Bearcat armored vehicle has continued to be a controversial purchase by the city’s Board of Public Safety, which is the governing body of the Bloomington Fire and Police Departments. Activists have repeatedly disrupted city government meetings and demanded the city halt the purchase, since its public acknowledgement in February. The nearly quarter million dollar armored vehicle was delivered to the city over the weekend.