At the Tuesday, April 12 City Commission meeting, Chief of Police Ken Moore came forward with Lt. Reginald Alexander to discuss a matter of great importance to the Madison Police Department; their patrol cars are being depleted.
Not waiting to slowly lead in, Chief Moore leapt right into the needs of the department. “Our police vehicles are in bad shape,” said Chief Moore.
Lt. Alexander led the discussion, speaking to the commission about the extreme need of the department as their vehicles are rapidly becoming unusable.
“We have four shifts carrying eight people…and two cars,” said Lt. Alexander. “This has put our cars to running and operating 24 hours a day.” Lt. Alexander warned about the hazards of keeping a vehicle running constantly. “Cars tend to wear out over a period of time,” said Lt. Alexander. “Cars run on combustion, which creates heat and heat melts steel.” Lt. Alexander warns that constantly running the patrol cars poses a problem as it melts the internal metal parts of the car.
Constantly running, whether the car is moving (adding up miles) or not, the car remains hot and damages the vehicles, aging it beyond what the miles can show.
“We are at a point now to where we are down to two vehicles that are being rotated in and out between almost eight people,” said Lt. Alexander. “If we stay like we are now, we are going to be in bad condition.”
Lt. Alexander gave a scenario where he responded to a call and needed to take an individual into police custody. “My car broke down on scene,” said Lt. Alexander.
With the suspect in the backseat, Lt. Alexander had to summon another officer to the scene to switch the suspect into the other vehicle.
While Lt. Alexander was waiting with his patrol car for towing to arrive, another call came in from across town.
“Having the relationship that we have with the [Madison County Sheriff’s Office], deputies were able to come in and give me a hand [on the second call],” said Lt. Alexander.
His point remained, however, that due to the debilitated vehicles, the MPD was not able to do their job.
“This is an issue that we need to address,” said Lt. Alexander before passing out quotes from a company that furnishes vehicles for law enforcement purchase or loan.
The city commissioners raised questions on the pricing, the ease and the workings of the company and of purchasing new fleet vehicles for the MPD.
Mayor Catron asked if the MPD allows officers to take vehicles home with them. Lt. Alexander said that they do, but the take-home program was started prematurely. The program was started because the department was lacking a large force of officers.
Lt. Alexander praised the idea of a take-home program, saying that it would keep the patrol cars functioning better longer. “One single person will be more responsible and take better care of a car than four or five getting in and out of the vehicle,” said Lt. Alexander. “If I only have [one person] in that car and I keep having the same problems, I’m going to look at [that person].”
The matter was discussed back and forth and the commissioners batted around ideas of getting a loan from the bank, which would be tax exempt as it was for a municipality for to buying a used car, which various commissioners seemed wary of.
Eventually, the Commissioners decided that they did not know enough about prices for all of the options of buying or leasing a patrol car.
Commissioners even asked if it was possible for the MPD to purchase vehicles using captured drug money, as the Madison County Sheriff’s Office does. Chief Moore’s response to that went back to their vehicle issue; the MPD cannot make the drug catches to purchase the fleet vehicles if they are driving patrol cars that regularly break down.
“If you want to have a more professional police department, it won’t be cheap,” said Chief Moore.
It was decided by the commissioners that Chief Ken Moore will explore more financial options concerning the leasing and/or purchasing of new or used police vehicles and will present these options to the commission for review and possible approval at the next city commission meeting on Tuesday, May 10.
“We are investing in our police department,” said City Manager Tim Bennett. “I don’t want us to [have] a mediocre police department.”