Pennsylvania Cop Killer Eric Frein's Manhunt Cost $11 Million
Authorities in Pennsylvania spent more than $11 million searching for the alleged killer Eric Frein for 48 days. Frein is accused of ambushing and gunning down a state trooper in September and then eluding police teams in a heavily wooded area of the state.
Pennsylvania state police reported that the vast majority of the expenses, $10.4 million, was spent on personnel, which included $6.8 million in overtime wages during the lengthy search. Travel costs totaled more than $66,000m and about $200,000 was used for inventory and other operational expenses. This large price tag only accounts for Pennsylvania State Police involvement and doesn't include costs of supporting agencies like U.S. Marshalls or the FBI.
About 1,000 law enforcement officers searched for Frein before he was found. The 31-year-old was captured near an abandoned airport hangar in Tannersville, roughly 90 miles north of Philadelphia, on Oct. 30.
Frein was described by authorities as a self-taught survivalist with anti-government views and hoped to start a "revolution" with his actions. He lay outside the Blooming Grove Barracks on Sept. 12 waiting when he fatally shot Cpl. Bryon Dickson with a high-profile rifle as he headed to the parking lot. He then shot and wounded another trooper, Alex Douglass, as he tried to help Dickson.
Prosecutors will be seeking the death penalty on Frein's charges of murder, attempted murder of an officer and having a weapon of mass destruction. Frein was also charged on Thursday with two counts of terrorism after police found a letter to his parents calling for a revolution
"There is so much wrong and on so many levels [that] only passing through the crucible for another revolution can get us back to the liberties we once had," Frein allegedly wrote. "I do not pretend to know what the revolution will look like or even if it would be successful."
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