In January the Board of Alderman approved the Police Department’s request to fund new vehicle purchases. Typically each year, two new police cars are purchased and the two oldest cars in the fleet are retired and sold. Last year (2021), due to the pandemic impacted uncertain budget, only one vehicle was purchased. This year three will be purchased – including two new vehicle types for the city.
In addition to a “standard” Ford Police Interceptor, this year the department will be adding a gas/electric hybrid Police Interceptor and an F-150 Police Responder pickup truck. As normal, three older vehicles will be sold, keeping the fleet size stable.
Well - that was "Plan A", but a day after getting approval for the purchase, the Police department learned that Ford is having issues delivering the Explorer-based vehicles and it will be next year before they would arrive. So the department quickly looked for other options and learned that Landmark Dodge in Independence MO has Dodge Durango Pursuit vehicles in stock. A new "Plan B" was quickly formed.
So at the second January Board of Alderman meeting, the purchase of two Dodge Durango police vehicles for 2022 was approved. It is anticipated that the Durango's will arrive within 30-120 days. Luckily, the Ford F-150 police pickup should also still be available this year too.
The city went ahead and ordered the two Ford Explorer police vehicles, anticipating they will be delivered in 2023. These will be the "new" vehicles for next year, but if Ford's delivery issues persist, the city may again order two more next year (anticipating delivery in 2024), or may consider moving to the Dodge Durango again for 2024.