Article 23

This article authorizes the Town to purchase a 2006 Ford Crown Victoria police cruiser to include all necessary equipment to outfit the vehicle, lettering and costs associated with transferring the vehicles equipment. This cruiser is in addition to the two cruisers requested in the existing operating budget.

This article authorizes the purchase of a third marked patrol cruiser for the 2006 year. Two additional marked patrol cruisers are in the existing police budget. At last year’s elections the Town failed to pass a warrant article to purchase two new cruisers. As a result our cruiser fleet is aging and the repair costs associated have started to increase. In 2001, the police department in cooperation with the CIP committee, Board of Selectman and Budget Committee all supported a cruiser replacement plan of two police cruisers per year. The goal of the plan was as follows:  To reduce the age and mileage of the cruisers being replaced Obtain the highest resale value for the cruisers being replaced. Improve officer safety. Reduce associated repair costs. Below is a chart labeled Cruiser Replacement Mileage & Repair Costs indicating the replacement cruiser mileage and repair costs since the implementation of the cruiser replacement plan in 2001. The replacement cruiser mileage is reflected by the blue bar on the graph. The yearly vehicle repair cost is reflected by the red line. During the years 2001,2002,2003,2004 two new cruisers were purchased each year. In 2005 the warrant article request for two cruisers was defeated. Since 2001 the yearly replacement cruiser mileage has been declining as well as the repair costs since 2002. The exception being this year, where the costs for vehicle repair have risen as well as the projected cruiser replacement mileage. This can be associated with the fact that no new cruisers were purchased in 2005 and additional repairs were necessary in order to maintain the fleet. These costs can be expected to increase as the cruiser fleet ages as well as the cruiser replacement mileage unless new vehicles are purchased to reverse the mileage and costs.

The recommendations for police cruiser mileage limits indicate that police cruisers should be removed from service around 70,000 miles or three years. This gives the department the best value for their money when trading in vehicles and ensures a smaller repair budget due to the vehicle remaining under warranty. Police cruisers are purchased with a 3 year 100,000 mile warranty.

Our goal for our department has been to try to reduce the vehicle replacement mileage a close to 100,000 miles as possible. Unfortunately due to the high number of miles operated, we have found that an acceptable level would be to have the vehicles replaced before 118-120,000 miles due to excess repair costs.

Our department uses new cruisers for front line patrol operations. After two years they are transferred to secondary patrol operations and then to administrative duties for the remainder of their service time.

 Of the three cruisers scheduled for replacement in the spring of 2006 one will be eight years old with an estimated mileage of 134,000.The second vehicle will be 7 years old with an estimated mileage of 131,000 and the third vehicle will be six years old with an estimated mileage of 114,000 miles.

In an effort to reduce costs and improve officer safety, our department applied for and  has received a Federal Grant  called Project 54 this grant provides up to $11,000 per police cruiser for equipment, data, laptops, lighting and voice recognition software for up to five vehicles.

The Project 54 program is designed to provide a safer operational environment through voice recognition and technology in order to reduce officer involved accidents while responding to emergency calls or vehicle pursuits. It allows the officer to use voice recognition to turn on emergency lights activate record or data base checks and switch radio frequencies. It also allows for GPS locators ion and has the ability

It is in the best interest of the Police Officer the Taxpayer and the Community we serve to provide the proper and safest equipment available for our officers while performing their.

We ask that you support this warrant article.