Cops in Canyon County, Caldwell, Nampa and all the other cities in Canyon County continue to cling to their beloved gas guzzling Ford Crown Vics. Word on the street is Boise Chief of Police is about to bust a move to smaller rides for his cops. They will come in at $6,000 less per vehicle and save and enormous amount on fuel over the life of these cars. Hats off to Chief Masterson on this decision! He is about to break the entrenched thinking about cars and cops and how best to serve public safety and interest and money.
THE GUARDIAN made an appeal to Caldwell City Deciders at budget hearings this past summer when gas was near the $4/gallon mark to not buy anymore of these obsolete dinosaurs. The effort fell on deaf ears and Chief Allgood got the cash to continue to buy Crown Vics. Chevy Impalas while not the compact car in the above picture get at least 1/3rd more gas mileage and are cheaper to operate.
Meanwhile, taxpayers continue to condone the use of these huge vehicles and the upfront expense of buying them in the first place. You simply can't keep doing the same old thing and expect a different result.
Chief Mike Masterson adds the following clarification:
Just one point of clarification. The smaller more fuel efficient vehicles we are considering will replace the unmarked midsized cars we have in our fleet. Our driving behaviors and needs in these areas demonstrate we can make immediate cost saving and efficiency improvements. For example, approximately 95% of my driving is alone with no other passengers and I don’t have the need to carry safety equipment in my car. The change will be easy for me. I would like to clarify one point in your article. There are no plans at this time to replace the Ford Crown Victoria’s the mainstay of marked police patrol car needs for Boise Police and our profession now for over a decade. Their uni-body construction and safety platform is critical to the needs of officers working in those high risk positions. The time may come where we are forced to reconsider these specialized vehicles (word is that Ford plans on discontinuing production of the Crown Vic model in the near future) but for now we are satisfied with their overall performance
A big heavy vehicle for the ISP troopers makes sense. Those big Ford Crown Vics really do not make much sense in city law enforcement. A safe car for patrol offices that will get decent gas mileage is what they need and what we sould all support
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