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PCPD to receive sorely needed new cars

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PANAMA CITY — Not that it’s a surprise, but police officers have a tendency to beat up their vehicles.

The Panama City Police Department will replace 50 vehicles — 35 marked cars, 14 unmarked cars and a crime scene investigation vehicle — by February. Each existing vehicle has well over 125,000 miles on the odometer. Some date to 2001 and 2002.

“In essence, that’s their workplace,” Police Chief Scott Ervin said. For the “average person it might be 10 miles roundtrip. They’re in there 11 hours, constantly running the alternator.”

Ervin said there is the worry that a car will break down in the middle of  a call, leaving an officer briefly stranded on U.S. 98.

Panama City commissioners approved a lease-purchase agreement with Mears Leasing of Orlando on Tuesday. The five-year leases will not exceed $416,640 per year including interest, for a total of $2,083,200 for the complete five years. Ervin said the department still is negotiating the cost. The maximum capital cost is $1.929 million, which does not include interest for the entire life cycle of the lease. Once the five years are up, the department has the option to purchase each vehicle for a dollar, which Ervin said will invariably happen.  

“When the economy was good, we got replacements every five years,” Ervin said. “We’ll get more than eight years out of them.”

Mears has agreed to purchase the old vehicles. Ervin expects each to fetch as much as $1,500. Ervin projects this will net about $60,000 at a rate of $1,200 per vehicle. That was one advantage of choosing Mears out of three financing options, the other companies being SunTrust and Hancock banks.

Mears was about $8,367 more expensive for the entire contract but also pays for the cars to be equipped, including heavier struts intended for impact during chases, larger sway parts for rollovers, cages, and cameras. Mears will pay for installation, but the department still pays for the equipment. Mears also pledges to contact regional manufacturers to either fix or replace the vehicle and work with insurers in case of a wreck.

The difference in equipment accounts for cost differences among vehicles. Ervin estimated the marked cars to cost about $40,000 each, unmarked at $32,000 and the CSI van at $25,000. The crime scene equipment is paid for by the department, a different budget line item.

Ervin understands $2 million is a large, upfront commitment. He said the savings in maintenance, possibly more than $60,000 per year total, and fuel costs, possibly more than $40,000, make it worth the upfront cost. Each of the new vehicles, except the van, will come with fuel-saver technology, and once the car reaches the desired speed, four of eight cylinders shut off.

Also approved by the commission Tuesday was a grant for $364,781 from the Florida Department of Transportation for the police department to purchase tablets for each officer. The tablets are meant to provide easier access to the Traffic and Criminal Software System Panama City has been using since 2011.

The software provides traffic and driving under the influence forms. With the ability to take pictures, officers can use one device at the scene of an accident for information input. The tablets also will connect with vehicle video cameras, only available in some police vehicles.

“You can’t take the laptop out of the car,” Ervin said. “All of the crash data is automatically sent to state. It makes it a lot easier to analyze crash data.”


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