Nassau County Police unveil 6-ton rolling fortress

It's a powerful piece of crime fighting equipment that serves more than one purpose.

"This will provide use not only in tactical situations but in rescues," Nassau County Acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter says.

It's called The Rook - a fully armored six-ton vehicle. It's one of just 18 in the country.

"There's an attachment with a ram that allows a tactical team to approach that provides them with a level of security they wouldn't have otherwise," Krumpter says.

The ram is just one of five attachments that can go on the machine.  There's also the grapple for storm cleanup, the extraction tool to remove vehicles and objects that block the roads and a retrofitted rescue platform to reach new heights.

"We can lift it up to the second floor of the house, remove the window and take the person out on the platform," Police Officer Richard Young of the Emergency Services Unit says.

Members of the Bureau of Special Operations who work on the tactical platform wear a special ballistic helmet.

"This protects operators as they're trying to get up and into a different type of area," Sgt. Kevin McCarthy of the Bureau of Special Operations says.

This is the same type of machine that was used to safely approach cars after the San Bernardino attacks. It costs approximately $250,000.

"It was asset forfeiture funded. In this case, we took the criminals money and we're making public and police officers safer," Krumpter says.

Joystick controllers are used to steer,  cameras are affixed to each attachment and are viewed from an interior mounted monitor.