The "Border Basher"

It's the latest tool in the border battle.  It's called the "Border Basher" - built to be the roughest, toughest law enforcement vehicle of all - and it's being used right here in Arizona.

FOX 10's Marc Martinez reports.

Weighing in a 6 tons of steel and thick with armor, this tactical vehicle deployed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection can now be found along our southern border.

Alan White of the U.S. Border Patrol says "Where there's smoke, there's fire and we're going to head towards it."

Part of a larger plan to react to any possible violence that spills over from Mexico, the Border Basher can seat up to 8 agents and face almost any threat.

"Our biggest concern right now is border violence and with that comes the assault rifles and grenades." says White.

But an armored vehicle like this is built to stop those threats while saving lives caught in the cross fire.

Chief John Harris of the Sahuarita Police Department says "We don't have as a town our size, we're only about 25,000 people...we don't have the resources to buy equipment like that, having that equipment at our beck and call is something that you can't put a value on."

Chief Harris says the bullet proof basher can roll into any situation, not just drug violence. "If we have a hostage situation, we can actually put people in places that we wouldn't be able to get into without an armored vehicle.  If we have an officer injured, we don't have the equipment to go in to do a rescue."