HANCEVILLE – Recently, the Hanceville City Council approved its new budget. Among the items included are eight new patrol vehicles for the Hanceville Police Department: a modified Ford Explorer for each full-time patrol officer in the department. The total cost of the new fleet, including purchase and law enforcement modifications, will be around $200,000. The surplus sale of 10-11 old vehicles will help offset the cost of modifications and add-on equipment.
Police Chief Bob Long says that the department has been purchasing, driving and increasingly maintaining used cars and SUVs for eight years now. These Explorers will be the first new vehicles purchased by the department since 2008.
Last year, according to Long, the cost of maintaining the aging fleet was almost equal to the cost of buying comparable vehicles. The average HPD vehicle has 174,000 miles on it, and the fleet has a total mileage of approximately 6.2 million miles. Engines and transmissions have been rebuilt, and the cars are constantly having to come in for maintenance and repair. The average gas mileage of the current fleet is around eight miles per gallon. Even though they are SUVs, the new vehicles are supposed to be capable of up to 18 miles per gallon.
Long says he hopes that the purchase process can begin in the next week. The specially-built vehicles will take around 12 weeks to build and ship; upon arrival, they will require another week for their final outfitting. The department plans to have the vehicles on the street by spring.
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