Prince Albert City Police replace patrol cars earlier than at least three other municipal police services in the province.
A last-second addition to Monday night’s city council meeting was to pre-approve the purchase of three new Dodge Chargers and a Chevrolet Tahoe for $120,634 for City Police.
The Chargers would be for patrol purposes and cost about $24,000 each, while the Tahoe would cost about $42,500.
Tahoes are commonly used for the canine unit or as a supervisor vehicle, noted a report authored by Deputy Chief Troy Cooper.
The vehicles needed to be pre-approved to meet the manufacturer’s order deadline of March 15.
Coun. Lee Atkinson noted three members of the board of police commissioners, Coun. Greg Dionne, Coun. Ted Zurakowski and Mayor Jim Scarrow had all often referred to how tight this upcoming budget would be, and he wondered if the new vehicles could wait one year.
“Here is a case where maybe we can save some money. Maybe we don’t really need to buy so many police vehicles this year,” he said.
Sgt. Kelly Mclean said in an interview that patrol cars specifically were replaced after being used for two years and required a special upgraded package, which included upgraded brakes and suspensions, for example.
Other departments, such as bylaw enforcement or the criminal investigation division, normally used hand-me-down vehicles to ensure all vehicles are continuously being recycled.
For example, the identification division was using an older Tahoe, while the community services unit now used the identification unit’s old van, according to McLean.
“Keep in mind these vehicles run 24 hours a day, seven days a week in patrol,” he said.
Fleet replacement is dictated by the Saskatchewan Police Act and the detachment’s own internal policy, added McLean.
By comparison, the Moose Jaw Police Service replace their patrol cars about every three years, while the Regina Police Service normally uses their patrol cars for four years before replacing them.
The Saskatoon Police Service said it normally uses its marked patrol cars for five years or until cars reached 200,000 kilometres, according to the service’s asset manager.
He said cars usually reach a mileage limit before they hit five years.
Regina police would change patrol cars before the four-year mark if the car was a lemon, had other problems, or reached 170,000 kilometres, according to spokeswoman Elizabeth Popowich.
Regina preferred Ford Crown Victorias to Dodge Chargers.
“We do have a couple of Chargers too,” said Popowich, “but they haven’t stood out as something we are going to rush out and buy.”
A tender for Crown Victorias was offered in P.A., but it was about $16,600 more than the Chargers’ tender and Cooper’s report said the V8 Hemi Charger had been satisfactory.
A representative for the Moose Jaw City Police said that force tended to buy whatever cars were the lowest tender, but did expect three years out of patrol cars.
Moose Jaw police also didn’t pay too much attention to mileage for patrol cars, he added, as miles could easily be increased quickly from highway calls.
McLean said P.A. police had tried in previous years to extend patrol cars for more than two years, but it hadn’t worked.
“Earlier in my career I know we have tried keeping (patrol) vehicles longer than 24 months, and I have seen them on the end of a tow hook more than once,” he said.
Patrol cars were used so much in particular in Prince Albert that they often burned up their warranties quickly, and city maintenance staff had also suggested a two-year replacement schedule for patrol cars, according to McLean.
Patrol cars driven around the clock racked up miles extremely quickly.
“We need them to be reliable, we can’t afford in an emergency situation to turn that key and not have it go,” he said.
