Markeshia Ricks Photo
Thirteen new Dodge Chargers at the police garage.
Some relief has arrived for cops used to responding to calls in cars that have holes in the floor or steering wheels that come off.
Thirteen new cars are parked in the city’s police car garage, but it will be up to alders to decide how much more relief might come before the year is over.
The new cruisers are now parked in the city’s police garage on Sherman Parkway. Three more cars are on the way for a total of 16 new police cruisers.
It will still be a few weeks before the new Dodge chargers hit the street. They have to be outfitted with decals and lights. The new computer hardware, gun racks, radios and the back seats have to be outfitted for transporting arrestees.
All work that is made decidedly harder by the very small staff of four in the garage, who are responsible for getting the cars ready for the road, but maintaining the beleaguered fleet that still remains.
The Board of Alders Finance Committee will consider Thursday whether to recommend to the full board that the city add another six new cars to the fleet this year using a master lease agreement.
The agreement would allow the city to finance the purchase of the new cars while getting officers out of their current clunkers.
The condition of the department’s fleet is in such bad shape that the police union filed a grievance with the state Labor Department alleging that officers are forced to drive cars aren’t safe for them or the community they are sworn to protect.
Hartman points out equipment that will be added.
The idea of going to a master lease program to update the police department’s — and that of other city departments — ailing fleet was pitched this spring to alders during the run-up to the city’s annual budget showdown. The Harp administration had initially asked alders to consider an agreement that would allow for the purchases of 12 more vehicles this year, but given the new cars coming to the department already, the proposal before alders was scaled back to six. The 16 new cruisers were purchased with $450,000 in the city’s fiscal 2016 – 2017 capital budget.
Chief Administrative Officer Mike Carter said he is hoping the city’s continued financial stability will allow it to set aside that amount every year for the next four our five years to allow for the update of not only the police department’s fleet, but that of the fire department, the public works department and the city’s anti-blight agency, the Livable City Initiative (LCI). He said the master lease program would allow the city to purchase new vehicles in a cyclical manner that ensure that they are maintained under warranties and replaced before it costs more to fix than to purchase new.
“I think continued financial stability allows us to do that,” he said. “We just have to commit to setting that aside.”
Wiring that has to be hooked into cars.
Carter said should the Board of Alders approve the purchase of the six new police cruisers, they could be here as early as February 2017. He said that the goal for next year’s capital budget cycle is for the police department to obtain more cruisers and a replacement for a more than 15 year old tow truck, motorcycles and new detective cars.
The New Haven Police Union sounded the alarm earlier this year as the city headed into its budget season over the condition of police cruisers, even going so far as to call out former Chief Dean Esserman, and assistant chiefs for driving new cars while the rank-and-file clunked along in rundown models.
Current Police Chief Anthony Campbell said deciding which officers get new cars will be up to new Assistant Chief Tony Reyes, who is in charge of patrol, and Superintendent of Police Motor Vehicles Tim Hatch. Those determinations will be driven by which vehicles need to be replaced based on factors such as high mileage and wear and tear.
Seats from the new cars will have to be replaced with these prisoner transport systems.
Campbell said every year the department asks for a budget increase. This year it asked specifically for an increase for the garage and the animal shelter, but that request was denied as it was most requests for additional personnel for most city departments this year. He pointed out that about a decade ago, the garage had about 10 people, today it has four. Two of those four people are eligible for retirement. Campbell said the department will ask again next year for more help.
“With any luck, the garage can turn out six cars per week,” he estimated. “They’ve got their work cut out for them.”
The master lease that is before the alders only covers this year; the process would be repeated next year.
Police Union President Craig Miller said that Campbell has kept his word about getting officers into new cars even if it took longer than expected. He said the union doesn’t hold Campbell responsible fore the delay.
“[We’re] glad the city alders worked on getting the funds to get new cars to the police department and we’d like to thank them,” Miller said, noting particularly the support and work of the alders’ Public Safety Committee. “The union has hopes that the process to get them to the street can be sped up without delay.”
He said the union is reviewing its complaint to determine if it needs to be pursued any further.
Carter said the master lease process allows the city to purchase new vehicles that are under warranty for three years, and get rid of older vehicles that are driving up maintenance costs.
Patrol officers will get first dibs.
“It only makes sense to get on a regular cycle,” he said. Campbell echoed Carter, saying that a regular system of replacement would allow the department to modernize its fleet in a matter of just a few years, with the majority of it covered by bumper-to-bumper warranties with lower mileage and less wear and tear and maintenance.
The police fleet has 349 vehicles, including about 130 marked patrol, traffic and patrol support vehicles, detective division cars, laboratory and forensic vehicles, Police Academy and administration cars as well as vans, SUVs and heavy-duty trucks assigned to the bomb squad, SWAT, underwater search and recovery, hostage negotiation, canine and command and control field operations, according to information provided by police spokesman Officer David Hartman.